


Episode 1-07 - "Seeking The Past"

by stgjr



Series: Undiscovered Frontier Season 1 - "Seeking the Past" [7]
Category: Multi-Fandom, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse, Space Opera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-08 22:22:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10397487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: The Aurora and Koenig crews are sent on a mission to infiltrate enemy space and locate the site of an ancient Darglan Facility, but an unknown threat and kept secrets will make the mission far more dangerous than they expected.





	1. Chapter 1

**Teaser**  
  
  
 _Ship's Log: 13 May 2641; ASV Aurora. Captain Robert Dale recording. We've arrived at Harris Station in S4W8 to meet with Admiral Maran and the President's Defense Staff about Lieutenant Delgado's report on a Darglan Facility existing across the border in Reich territory. With the meeting just hours away, the senior staff is assembling to take a final look at the data we have gathered._  
  
The command staffs for both the _Aurora_ and the _Koenig_ filled the main conference room to capacity. Robert put his hands on the table and let out a breath. He had been hoping over the past few days that further examination would show their initial findings to be off and that there was no Darglan facility. "So we're certain?", he asked wearily.  
  
Meridina gave a nod in reply. "The reports I received from Lieutenant Delgado are confirmed. The Security Operations office has provided me with reports from intelligence sources showing that the Reich has been expanding its presence in this entire region since our contact. They are moving into the zone specified by Caterina's findings."  
  
Julia was quicker to speak than Robert was. "So sooner or later, they're going to have an active presence in the systems where we think the Facility might be?"  
  
Angel nodded. "As soon as next week when you consider their current rate of expansion. They'll have sensor buoys and patrols up across that entire area."  
  
"If they secure those systems, we'll never be able to get in quietly," Julia said. "We would have to go in with force."  
  
"And that would start a war," Robert added, his voice sounding tired. "We can't let that happen. Does anyone have suggestions for us before the Defense Staff arrives?"  
  
No one spoke.  
  
"Then we'd better get going. The meeting is in half an hour in Briefing Room 2."  
  
Robert watched them all disperse, but try as he might, his mind kept going back to his dreams, and to his final words with Captain Lamper from the Reich.  
  
He'd been having nightmares of a war. And now it looked like one would break out.  
  
Angel caught his attention with an intent look. He'd woken her up the night before, tossing around from his dreams. She knew how unsettled he was. The fact they were together again was helping a little, although a voice in his head kept pointing out this was a mistake and that when it ended he'd better hope it ended well, otherwise the trouble they'd have...  
  
Robert took a breath to force the thoughts out of his head. This was no time for worrying about dreams or his complicated relationship with Angel. He had to prepare to receive the most powerful military officers in the Alliance on his ship. He should focus on _that_.  
  
  
  
  
Caterina and Angel were the only ones to take the side turbolift out of the conference room. Angel could see how nervous her little sister was and put a hand on her shoulder. Cat rubbed her hands together and shuddered. "Julia said I'd have to give the briefing. I'm going to have to talk to those Generals and Admirals."  
  
"Just tell them what you know and it'll be fine."  
  
Cat put her hands on her head in a gesture of frustration and some terror. "But I'm not so good at doing that in front of people! I'll get nervous and screw it up, and they'll be all over me and Rob and Julia will take the blame!"  
  
Angel used her hand to twist her sister around so they could look eye to eye. "Believe in yourself a little, sis." She took Caterina into a hug, ending her nervous twitching.  
  
The hug lasted long enough for their turbolift to stop. Science Lab 2 was just around the corner. They entered it to find it empty, just as scheduled, allowing Caterina to compile her data for presentation without the science staff seeing her. As she watched the screens confirm downloads into a data slip, she looked up. “So, uh, Angel… you and Robert?”  
  
Angel looked at her. “What about us?”  
  
“You’re back together, right?”  
  
Clearly this discussion had been anticipated, and clearly Angel didn’t want to have it. “Not… well, it’s sort of…” Seeing the skeptical look on Caterina’s face she gave in. “I think we are.”  
  
“But I thought you said you’d never…”  
  
Angel rolled her eyes. “Stuff what I said before. If I feel it’s right and something I want to do, I’m going to do it.”  
  
“But you always feel so bad when it doesn’t work out.”  
  
“Maybe this time it’ll be different.”  
  
The skeptical look on Caterina’s face deepened. “You said that last year too.”  
  
“Even if it doesn’t…” Angel made a dive for safety by changing the subject. “Whatever happens, I’ll handle it. We’ve got this to focus on now.”  
  
“And how I might screw it up,” Cat mumbled.  
  
“Seriously, Cat, relax. We’ve planned everything out. Everything has been considered. It’ll be fine.”  
  
  
  
  
Meridina was taking the time to check up on things in the security office. Lieutenant Parga Draynal, one of her senior subordinates, looked up from the main security desk as she entered. "Commander, I didn't expect to see you here," he said, finishing his work on the main console. "Are you relieving me?"  
  
"I am going to attend the meeting with the Defense Staff," she answered, shaking her head. "Do you have the performance reviews I requested?"  
  
"Right here," he answered, handing a datapad to her.  
  
"Thank you." She looked over them. "I see Ensign Liton's review was subpar?"  
  
"Yes. He's been rather inconsistent lately, I'm afraid," Draynal answered.  
  
"I will speak to him." Meridina went to her desk, holding the datapad and reviewing the findings. Liton had been failing to meet standards for months now, with several indications that he wasn't making connections to his peers.  
  
A shiver went up Meridina's spine. Something felt wrong. It made her focus more on the reports, seeking answers. It seemed the only way to deal with the dread building up inside of her.  
  
  


**Undiscovered Frontier  
_"Seeking The Past"_**

  
  
  
  
The meeting was taking place on the Station; Admiral Maran and the Defense Staff were present, with Admiral Lithgon also in attendance. The senior officers sat at a semi-circular table with Maran in the middle seat and Lithgon at one end.  
  
Beside that table and close to the holo-projector was where the staff from the _Aurora_ sat. Robert was in the seat nearest the main table, Julia beside him, Zack past her, and on to Meridina, Jarod, Angela, and Caterina, who was out of her seat and pointing toward the projector and the sensor data on it. “Further scans have confirmed the earlier readings. It’s a Darglan facility of some kind. We’re not sure if it’s the same as the one on our Earth.”  
  
The Defense Staff murmured among itself Admiral Maran let the murmuring go for a short while before he asked, “And you’re absolutely certain its in Reich space?”  
  
“We need close range scans to confirm the exact location, but the potential area from the scans we do have is entirely on their side of the border.” Caterina drew in a breath, trying to wrestle with her nervousness.  
  
The Staff began murmuring to itself again. One Dorei general, with dark purple complexion and teal spots, was relaying the material to his personal display to overlook.  
  
Maran turned to the man on his right. “General Hatcher, do we have any indication that the Reich knows what’s there?”  
  
The thin-faced, lanky older man shook his head. “No indications as of yet. But we don’t have any strong intel sources in the Reich so I can’t say for certain.”  
  
“So this isn’t urgent?” The man to Maran’s left was giving Robert and the others a look that made clear his dislike. Robert recognized him as Admiral Davies, the Vice CNO of the Navy. “Is there a reason we were called out for this?”  
  
Robert nodded. “We found signals that the Reich is surveying the area. If we’re going to investigate, we need to do it soon.”  
  
Davies gave a look that showed how much he trusted the _Aurora_ crew’s decision-making. “We’ll make that call.” He directed his fierce gaze at Caterina. “Now, Lieutenant Delgado, if this is one of those Darglan facilities, what are our options?”  
  
Calling Caterina out was enough to make her unsettled, but the fierce look on Davies’ face made her feel like crumpling. “Well… um… Admiral…”  
  
Davies’ nostrils flared. “You will address me as _Sir_ , Lieutenant,” he barked.  
  
Caterina had almost jumped, even if Davies hadn’t quite shouted. “Uh, yes...yes s-sir…” She swallowed and drew in a couple of breaths to regain her composure. It didn’t work well, but it was enough that she could resume before Davies laid into her more. “There are w-ways to destroy a Facility from the inside, sir. We could... could engineer a rea-reaction to enrich naqia into instability and s-set it off as an explosive, or if we... we have enough solar torpedoes available they could be used as b-bombs." Caterina sucked in a breath as Davies' eyes glared at her, clearly impatient with her nervous stuttering. "A big enough explosion will take out the DT field that sustains the pocket dimension. If we have time we could also try an override to disable the DT field. Either way, everything inside would be crushed.” She looked like she had barely made it through the rest of her comments without stuttering again.  
  
“So we’ll need a combat vessel,” Hatcher remarked. “And one that can get in undetected.”  
  
Zack stood up. “The _Koenig_ can do it.”  
  
Davies diverted his glare to Zack, but didn’t get the same effect. “We have more experienced officers for such a mission, Commander.” There was something in the way he used Zack’s rank that said “This is not the rank I think you’ve earned”, but it was not a strong enough sense to be felt, so to speak.  
  
Maran gave a nod to Zack. “However, the crew of the _Aurora_ has more experience with Darglan technology than any other crew we could send. I believe the _Aurora_ and _Koenig_ are the right choices for this mission.”  
  
Davies looked over at his chief and, for a moment, it was clear the two men were strongly at odds and that this was a battle they’d already waged. But Davies would say nothing; he was, obviously, a military man, and you didn’t contradict your commander in this environment.  
  
As if Maran needed support, Hatcher spoke up. “I concur. The _Aurora_ can be on standby near the border to respond if the mission is jeopardized, and the _Koenig_ ’s the only ship of its type we have available for this kind of operation. They should go. The only question I have is if Commander Carrey is ready to resume duty given his experience on Adrana.”  
  
"Doctor Gillam examined him yesterday," Robert replied. "He's given him leave to return to active duty."  
  
"That settles it them," Hatcher said.  
  
Davies looked away from Maran and gave a nod.  
  
Robert, for his part, was already considering the situation, and his concerns for what it could mean. “I’m worried about how the Reich will react if they realize what we’re doing.”  
  
“Let us worry about that, Captain,” Maran said. “Just concentrate on preparing your crew for the mission.”  
  
“Yes sir.”  
  
“And be careful out there,” he said as a final warning.  
  
  
  
  
Meridina returned to her security office where Draynal was waiting for her. He stood up. "How did the meeting go?"  
  
"Well enough. We are being dispatched on a new mission."  
  
"I have heard rumors that it will involve a penetration of Reich territory," Draynal said. "Should we get the security team alerted?"  
  
"I will make the appropriate arrangements. You are relieved."  
  
Draynal gave her a nod and walked out.  
  
Meridina began preparing the lists for the extra security personnel she would send along to the _Koenig_ for their mission. Part of her mind was on this task, the other was her concern over Admiral Davies’ behavior. Human militaries seemed so… stratified to her. Too narrow-minded. That he would deny the _Aurora_ crew their just posts because he didn’t feel they were “senior” enough was to her a foolish thought; merit, not age, should determine such things as rank or place.  
  
She returned her attention to the performance reviews. As she did so, Meridina felt a continued unease. Her _swevyra_ resonated with trepidation about the mission, not simply the stakes and the risk, but the fears that something unexpected was coming. For months now she had felt concerns about the ship, that something was wrong.  
  
Specifically, her concerns had focused on two people: Lieutenant Parga Draynal and Ensign Kyle Liton.  
  
Each was in that section of _Deep Space Nine_ that had made Lucy Lucero feel like her life was in danger. And since that time, the number of security events had increased, especially with access attempts to protected data on the ship. Liton was in computer security, and Draynal handled that division among his many duties. And yet she had seen nothing from either to indicate treachery.  
  
Meridina looked up at hearing a chime at the door. Julia entered at her prompting. "Meridina, we're going over the crew that's going along on the _Koenig_ for the mission. Do you have any recommendations for who will lead the security staff?"  
  
"I will do so," she answered. "I believe I will be of greater service in that case."  
  
"That makes three senior staff officers since Caterina and Jarod are going too," Julia answered. "Are you sure you need to be the one? Lieutenant Draynal could handle it."  
  
Meridina stopped herself from immediately reacting with a refusal. "He will be better employed overseeing security while we're gone."  
  
Julia nodded quietly. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Meridina, is this about the computer access issues we've had lately?"  
  
Meridina looked up at her. Even without a connected _swevyra_ Julia was an intelligent and capable person, and rather observant. Meridina was allowing her sense of discomfort to become too open. "I am simply better suited for the mission than Draynal. Darglan technology may react to my presence by reducing security safeguards, just as the last Facility showed a special holo-program to me upon my presence being confirmed."  
  
That prompted a nod. "Alright. We'll add you to the mission. Be ready at 1000 hours tomorrow for departure."  
  
"I shall be there, Commander."  
  
  
  
  
Robert stood on the bridge of the _Aurora_ and looked through flame and smoke to the looming image of... he couldn't make it out save that it was terrifying. Just like always.  
  
 _Another dream. Another nightmare._  
  
He saw ships like Captain Lamper's hovering over a planet, pouring disruptor fire into its cities.  
  
The _Aurora_ bridge wasn't there any more. He was somewhere sterile and gray. He turned and saw _Sturmbannführer_ Fassbinder walk down the corridor with two armed men following them. Between them he saw... Julia?! She was slouched down and in pain. "What... Julie?!" He reached for his holster and found... something he'd never seen before. Or had he? Something about odd device on his waist where his holster should be seemed familiar...  
  
The image shifted again. It was the girl in the red vest and skirt with gold trim. He could feel the energy coursing around her, threatening to expode with destructive power. "Help me," she said. "I don't know how...." Her hazel eyes closed briefly. When they re-opened, all he could see was solid white light. It kept growing until...  
  
...Robert didn't recognize where he was now. Something about it seemed familiar, like something he'd seen in a recording or a broadcast or some such thing. He was standing at the start of a long platform facing three raised podiums, a large window behind it looking out to... what? He couldn't make it out. A single figure stood at the end of the long platform, operating holo-controls. When the figure turned Robert saw it wasn't Human... Gray scaly skin, a swept back skull, Robert thought he recognized the species from M4P2. Bright, unnatural blue eyes looked at him. "You're fighting a hopeless battle," the alien said. "Our only hope is to serve."  
  
"You're wrong," a voice called out beside him. Robert turned in time to see solid blue energy form over a figure, which became a blur as it charged the alien....  
  
...and he was back on the _Aurora_ bridge, full of flame and smoke. "Shields offline!", he heard Jarod cry out. "They're breaking off to...."  
  
On the viewscreen he saw a familiar planet. "New Liberty", he murmured to himself. He could make out the shape of the growing city he had helped to found on the planet's surface.  
  
It was enveloped in explosions a moment later. Weapons fire descended on it from above, and as if in response to his thoughts, the viewscreen showed what was firing at the planet. A large, dark gray warship, with red warp nacelles and...  
  
...and a large Reich swastika emblazoned on the underside.  
  
" _Noooooooo!_ "  
  
At that point Robert woke up violently. He looked around at his dimly lit quarters, trying to reassure himself he was just dreaming. He sat up and put his forehead into his hands. This was the worst nightmare he'd had in months.  
  
A hand touched his bare side and shoulder. He felt Angela press against him from behind, her chin setting down on his right shoulder, her warmth subduing the shivers the dream had caused him. "Another nightmare?", she asked.  
  
"Yeah. The worst I've had since...."  
  
"...since we got back together." It wasn't a question. "It's okay. It's..."  
  
"Why now?", he asked. "Why tonight? With everything going on?"  
  
"Stress usually leads to bad nightmares, right?", Angela asked. "There's your answer."  
  
"This isn't just nightmares," he said. "They feel real, like... like they're actually happening."  
  
"I've had more than one dream like that." Angel kissed him on the cheek. "Lay back down and go to sleep. You need the rest."  
  
Robert turned and faced her. Angel's hazel eyes were dark in the dim light of their quarters, but they were shining with affection and love. He reached over and put his hand on her upper arm just below shoulder, enjoying the contact of her soft skin under his fingers, the feel of her muscle beneath the skin. It was muscle earned from a life of work and training. All from Angela's determination to do what she had to do to protect what mattered to her.  
  
He brought his hand down and took her's. It was a hand that he knew could deliver a beating. He'd learned that the hard way with all the times he'd agreed to spar with her and been made to regret it. It amazed him that the same hand capable of delivering a wicked punch could provide such a soft and loving touch, but...  
  
...but it also made him so very aware of his feelings, not just for Angela, but for Julia. The feelings that had welled up within him when they had kissed after escaping the doomed Darglan Facility. It had been a celebration of survival, yes, but it could become so much more.  
  
Some would say that a man who enjoyed the love and affection of two women like Angela and Julia was the luckiest man in the cosmos.  
  
It just made Robert feel guilty.  
  
 _I'm distracting myself_ , Robert thought. He had other things to deal with now. He couldn't let this distract him. "I'll get back to bed soon," he promised, swinging his legs over to get up. "But first I have something to do. Don't wait up for me."  
  
Angel sighed and watched him go for his uniform. "I'm here if you need to talk, you know that."  
  
"I do. And I will. But this is something that is... I can't describe it. But there's only one person on the ship who can help me." After pulling on his uniform pants, Robert reached over and tapped the comm button on the nearby nightstand. "Captain Dale to Commander Meridina. I know it's late, but I need to talk to you."  
  
  
  
Meridina was waiting when Robert got to the security office. Despite being awoken in the middle of the night she seemed completely unfazed compared to the bags already forming under Robert's eyes. "What is your concern?", she asked.  
  
Robert got into the seat in front of her desk and leaned forward. "Something strange is going on in my head. My dreams are becoming... I don't know how to describe it."  
  
Meridina clamped down on all emotion. She didn't want to alarm Robert about what he was going through and what she thought it meant. "Perhaps just speaking on the imagery in your head will suffice."  
  
"It fades after I'm awake for a while, but there are parts that stick with me. There was a girl, I didn't recognize her, in a red vest and skirt with gold trim. She was... it was like she was filled with energy but couldn't control it." Robert took a moment to collect his thoughts. "And there was one of those aliens from M4P2, I can't remember which, and he was talking to me, and... and..." His expression hardened. "That Nazi Fassbinder. He had Julia as a prisoner. And then I saw one of their warships destroy the Liberty Colony."  
  
Meridina nodded. "I see."  
  
"These aren't just nightmares," Robert insisted. "They're more. I know they are."  
  
"Yes." Meridina sighed. "They are more. Your _swevyra_ is finding connection to the wider universe. For some, it gives glimpses of what might become."  
  
She almost regretted saying it. _Mastrash_ Ledosh's warnings about not being too forward with them were always present in her thoughts. But Robert had come to her, and it was never in her order's policy to refuse aid to someone discovering their _swevyra_ 's power when they came for advice.  
  
"So... I'm like you then?", Robert asked. "I actually have the same... power as you do?"  
  
"Not necessarily," Meridina answered. "One thing to always keep in mind is that _swevyra_ is unique for every individual, and connections to the rest of creation can be varied from this uniqueness. Some can see as you can, but have no other skill. For myself, for all that my _swevyra_ allows me to accomplish I have never felt what the future may hold."  
  
"May hold? So what I saw isn't going to happen, it just might?"  
  
"While we have our prophecies, and indeed some have come true, the future is always changing and shifting as living beings follow their free will. Glimpses are solely those of what may transpire, not what will."  
  
"I see." He rested his head in his hands.  
  
Meridina had sympathy in her eyes. "You are worried that your visions will come to pass."  
  
"It would mean the Reich got their hands on the Darglan IU drive, so yes. And if they were to take Julia because of that..." After a moment's contemplation he looked up. "This is it, isn't it? This whole mission is the decision that will decide whether we end up at war with the Nazis or not, and if they get that technology."  
  
"It may be, yes. Your _swevyra_ is subconsciously warning you of the possible outcomes to your decisions to come soon."  
  
"Great. No pressure," he remarked lamely. "I should get back to sleep."  
  
"It is suggested, yes," Meridina agreed. "I will have...." She looked over at her screen and froze.  
  
"Meridina? Meridina, what's wrong?"  
  
"There is a security breach in the computer systems, someone is attempting to penetrate the internal defenses protecting our IU drive data." Meridina stood up and pressed her multidevice's comm key. "This is Commander Meridina, all security teams converge on Computer Systems Control immediately."  
  
Robert got out of his seat as Meridina walked past him. "Do you know who it is?"  
  
"No," Meridina said. "That we will have to learn."  
  
  
  
  
When they arrived at Computer Control, a security team was already present, pulse pistols drawn and pointed at a single figure kneeling on tthe floor. Meridina stepped up to the captured man. "Ensign Liton, what were you doing?"  
  
"I was just double-checking some code," Liton answered. "What's going on, Commander? Why am I being held?"  
  
"Commander!" Another pair of security officers, one of them being Lieutenant Draynal, was standing beside the controls. Meridina went over to him with Robert behind her. "It appears that a virus was uploaded into the ship's computers. Extensive data copies have been made and are set for regular transmission into Horizon Station's public comm net."  
  
"So it's being leaked all across S5T3," Robert said, feeling his eyes grow heavy as he felt the need for sleep build back up.  
  
"Or elsewhere," Meridina added. She looked at the screen. "Ensign Liton's access codes are in place. Who authorized him to have this amount of data clearance?"  
  
"I did," Draynal admitted. "After his re-assignment to this office. I had no idea he was going to be a security risk."  
  
"We will talk about this later, Lieutenant," Meridina said. "Have Ensign Liton escorted to the brig, I will be interviewing him shortly."  
  
"Yes Commander." Draynal nodded and brought the other security officers with him, having them escort the restrained Ensign along.  
  
"Liton's one of the new crew, right?", Robert asked. "Assigned right before New Year's?"  
  
"Yes. He had high performance reviews at first, but as of late the reviews have been declining." Meridina looked over the screen again. "And there is another matter I am concerned with. But for now, I suggest you assign Commander Jarod to examine the compromised data and check the ship's systems for any signs of computer sabotage."  
  
"Jarod's due to go with the _Koenig_ ," Robert reminded her.  
  
"I fear this is more important sir. Lieutenant Lucero has as much experience with Darglan technology as Commander Jarod does. Send her instead."  
  
"Lucy?" Robert stifled a yawn as he tried to make his tired brain think. "Okay. That makes sense. And since you need to interrogate Liton, we should probably put someone else on the mission. Lieutenant Draynal sounds best."  
  
Meridina shook her head. "I do not think that wise."  
  
"Oh? Why not?"  
  
And now she was stuck. She had to explain, to Robert, everything about what happened on _Deep Space Nine_. Given his fatigue he did well in listening and absorbing the information. "So Lucy got the jitters and you think something may have happened in that area of the station?"  
  
"Liton was one of the security personnel who went into the area. It is possible he was meeting with a contact hiding there. Or was attacked and replaced by an imposter."  
  
"An imposter who knew his codes and passed gene-scans? That doesn't sound likely."  
  
"Agreed, but we must be on guard. I sense great danger in the coming hours."  
  
Feeling exhausted, Robert leaned against one of the control stations. "Meridina, if you're not going, I need to send someone to oversee security. Zack's crew isn't large enough. And Draynal has the right qualifications."  
  
"Please, Robert," Meridina pleaded. "I have other subordinates. They can do just as well. Lieutenant Razal is trained to oversee a tactical team."  
  
"But he doesn't have the computer science background, right?" Seeing her expression remain as it was, Robert sighed. "Okay, send Razal. I'll see you and the rest of the staff in a few hours for a meeting before we launch. I need to get some sleep now, though."  
  
"Of course, Captain. Please rest."  
  
Robert nodded and walked out, letting out a yawn as he did so. Meridina was out right behind him, but she wasn't heading back to her quarters yet. She had something else in mind.  
  
The moment she stepped into her security office she went for the secure communications line the office had for transmissions. She used it to establish one to the interuniversal transmission station at Harris Station and activate a direct link that had been set up months before.  
  
Shortly afterward, a face appeared on her screen. " _Commander, you look rather tired_ ," Constable Odo of _Deep Space Nine_ stated. " _What can I do for you?_ "  
  
"We have had a security breach, Constable, and it relates to what occurred during our time at your station," Meridina explained. "I would like to request you make a full search of...."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aurora and Koenig crews are sent on a mission to infiltrate enemy space and locate the site of an ancient Darglan Facility, but an unknown threat and kept secrets will make the mission far more dangerous than they expected.

Some of Hargert's best coffee made the staff meeting bearable given the early time of 0700. Jarod was standing beside the main monitor, showing them computer code and systems information. "The virus that was found in Liton's workstation is a sophisticated data-sifter code. The coding is adaptive, intrusive, and very hard to find if you don't have the base code to establish search parameter."

"What was it being used for?," Julia asked.

"From what I can tell? It went through our systems looking for technical data and establishing back door access codes into ship security and communications," Jarod replied. "Meridina and I will be spending days trying to hunt it down. I'm not even finished determining all of the compromised systems."

Robert put his coffee down and rubbed at his eyes. He felt tired and groggy. More importantly, the entire mission was unraveling around him. With this in mind, how could he authorize the mission to go ahead with such a major security breach?

The image in his dream of a Nazi warship burning New Liberty flashed behind his eyes. If they found the Darglan facility instead, that could become true. The entire Multiverse would face invasion by the most horrific regime that the Human race had ever known.

"Has the program spread to the _Koenig_?", he asked.

"Unlikely," Jarod replied. "We never directly connect the ship's computer systems for this reason. Even a transmission goes through a firewall. Someone would have to directly introduce this into _Koenig_. And Ensign Liton has never been aboard her."

"I can have Magda go over our computer systems before we leave," Zack remarked. "Just to make sure."

"Maybe we should just abort," Caterina said. "I mean... if we have a spy on board, and they've compromised our systems to that extent, maybe they know what we're looking for. They'll probably know we're up to something. They could ruin it."

"She has a point," Tom said.

Zack looked to Robert and Julia. "She does. Admiral Maran will be upset, but it's better than the mission going wrong because we ignored a security problem like this. We should at least postpone it."

"Not possible. Not without tipping the Nazis off," Robert reminded them. "They've seen our fleet move. They'll know we're up to something if we stop and then do it again. It's either now or never." _And if I choose wrong, New Liberty burns. Beth, Gabe, Ba...._

"Rob, there's no guarantee they'll find it that quickly, and the _Koenig_ can always slip in even if they start setting up there," Zack said. "If things go really bad, you'll be risking a war."

" _I know_ ," Robert answered, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice. "But the decision is mine. So long as _Koenig_ doesn't have the same thing in its systems, we're launching. So make sure your ship is ready."

Zack lowered his head and avoided eye contact, although everything in his body language screamed disapproval. "Alright. Who is coming with my crew on the mission? You're keeping Meridina and Jarod now."

"Lieutenant Razal and Lucy are their replacements," Robert replied.

"Razal?" Julia looked at him. "Draynal sounds like a better fit."

"We'll need him to help with the computer security investigation," Robert pointed out.

Julia didn't seem satisfied by that answer, but she said nothing else.

"If that's all, we've got a lot of work to do. Jarod, Scotty, Meridina, keep me informed of all developments. As long as the computers are clear, the _Koenig_ will launch at 1100 hours. You're all dismissed."

 

 

 

Due to the small quarters on the _Koenig_ , Zack kept most of his stuff in his assigned quarters on the _Aurora_. It wasn’t hard to keep two sets of uniforms and toiletries and other essentials for each ship, but anything else he had to bring in his duffel bag.

Right now it was sitting on his bed, still zipped open, with a few items in it. An autographed good luck baseball he kept from a Kansas City game he’d gone to as a kid, the second baseball from the state champion team he’d pitched for in High School, a couple of pictures of his family and friends…

He was holding a new photo now, one he’d taken off the _Susquehanna_ ’s sensor logs, showing a picture of the visit to the moon he’d taken his father on. They were in suits, of course, but the sensor image showed their faces through the plates and Gerald Carrey’s face was smiling.

The gaping hole in his heart ached again and he had to wipe away tears as he set the photo, lovingly, into the bag. When he looked up to consider a shelf newly-organized with things from the old family home, his eyes focused on one item; the bottle of expensive tequila that his father had wanted to share with him one day. It was something he had never thought of doing; he’d seen his father ruin almost everything he touched under the influence of alcohol. Even now, knowing Gerald Carrey had honestly done that in an attempt to drown crippling feelings of failure, he couldn’t stop seeing it as an evil influence.

And yet…

…why did he keep it? Why didn’t he pour it out like he’d done the rest of his father’s stash of liquor? Why was it still unopened?

For a moment he almost put it in the bag, just to have it, and wondering about those questions. He stopped when there was a chirp at his door. “I’m in,” he replied.

When the door slid open Meridina stepped in. “Commander, I need to speak with you on the mission.”

“I’m all ears, Meridina. All ears,” he answered.

"I sense you are upset with Captain Dale's decision?"

Zack put the bottle back on the shelf. "I think he's being stubborn about it. I understand. I wanted to wipe that look Davies' face too. But I'm the one being sent into this situation first. We're already going to try to sneak around under the Nazis' noses. Now I have to worry about this security breach."

"He is not being callous about the risk to you," Meridina remarked. "He is simply worried about the stakes."

"Oh, so you know all this?", Zack asked pointedly. "He can talk to you about it but not his best friend?"

"There are... other factors," Meridina said delicately. "But I know he would tell you if he could find the right words. Sometimes we fear talking about the contents of our souls with those whose opinions we care about."

"If you say so..." Seemingly unconvinced, Zack returned his attention to his pack.

"Have faith, Zachary, and be careful." She bowed. " _Mi rake sa swevyra iso._ "

"Me rockey sha swe...." He could see a flicker of amusement come over Meridina's stoic face. With a pained look, Zack gave up trying to pronounce the Gersallian phrase. "Good luck to you too."

Meridina nodded at him and left. She got halfway down the hall before she began to giggle over Zack's difficulties with Gersallian language.

 

 

 

Ensign Liton sat quietly on the other side of the forcefield, his face hidden in his hands, while Meridina laid out the facts to him. "Your work station. Your access codes. Access times that match your on duty logs. You are facing serious charges, Ensign."

"It wasn't me," Liton insisted.

"I have sent for Lieutenant Borja," Meridina continued. "I cannot question you further until she arrives."

Liton shook his head. "I don't want a lawyer. I want the truth out. I found that program when running a Level 3 security diagnostic of the active processes in the computer. I was trying to find out why we've had so many security alerts from the computers. Next thing I know Lieutenant Draynal is pulling me out of my chair and arresting me!"

Meridina focused on him. She took care not to actually touch his mind, she did nothing to violate his rights, her purpose simply being to see if the slightest element of insincerity. All she sensed was bewilderment and fear.

It meant nothing. A skilled infiltrator could be prepared for such probing. But Meridina was confident enough to believe she would sense such deception.

The door slid open and admitted Lieutenant Rosa Borja stepped in, her dark brown hair kept back in a pony tail and her uniform color trim the dark green of a JAG officer. "Commander, a moment with the Ensign?"

"Of course," Meridina replied, stepping away. Once out of earshot she pressed the comm link on the multidevice on her forearm. "This is Meridina calling Commander Jarod. Have you learned anything new?"

" _We still have a lot of code to sift through. Whoever used this program has used the security systems, I can tell you that much._ "

"Any sign that the _Koenig_ was compromised?"

" _None. Magda is finishing the final sweep now._ "

"Thank you. I shall report in later." Meridina lowered her arm and looked back to where the JAG lawyer was talking with Liton. Seeing his agitated look and the forlorn expression on his face, she couldn't help but wonder if she was wrong on the "who".

 

 

 

After securing his things in his quarters on _Koenig_ , Zack went back to the airlock to wait for the others. Barnes showed up first, with duffel bag and engineering tool case, wearing an irritated scowl that Zack had seen plenty of times. "Hey Tom, ready for some fun?"

"Yeah, it's a real hoot, heading off into Nazi territory to find something that might not be there, and if it is there we gotta blow it up so the Nazis don't get the tech," was the grumbled reply. Barnes shook his head. "Plus I had to spend all day getting my reports to Scotty filed. I barely remembered to pack."

Zack smirked. "Well, maybe you should get your reports done before the last day?"

"Bite me, Zack." Barnes went on through the airlock.

Zack sighed. Sometimes his friend got up on the wrong side of the bed. And then he spent all day being grouchy and sullen. It had ruined many a party day. _No more party days in this job, though_.

"You look preoccupied." Zack noticed Lucy had walked up, carrying the same things Barnes had. "Something wrong?"

"Tom's in a bad mood again."

"Ah. Well, hopefully he'll give Karen a wide berth." Lucy smiled. "So, my first mission on the _Koenig_ in months. This is going to be fun."

"Good to have you back."

"So..." She looked around. "Where's Cat? Did she already make it?"

Zack shook his head and checked his multidevice's watch. "No, and we only have ten minutes for her to get here. I wonder what's keeping her?"

They got their answer by the wheezing that came from the top of the airlock's adjoining corridor. At the T-intersection Caterina came around the corner. She looked like she was going to topple under the weight of what she was bringing. The pack on her back looked almost like a hiking pack complete with sleeping bag. Two more packs were slung over her shoulders, and she had two bags in each hand. "I'm not... late," she wheezed. "Not late."

"Jeez Cat, did you empty an entire Lab?!" Lucy pushed her stuff into Zack's hands, much to his surprise, and rushed over to get some of the bags Caterina was lugging along. "What is all this stuff?"

"Gear... for scanning inside... the Facility," Caterina answered, still puffing. "Didn't think it... was so heavy..."

Zack went up and took another shoulder bag from her, and then the last two bags in her hands. "Well, someone's trying to be Wonder Girl."

"Which one? Black haired or blonde?", Lucy asked, smirking.

"Good question. I admit I was always partial to the blonde."

"Why? Because if she had green eyes Julia could be her?", Lucy teased.

Zack sighed. "Oh, don't tempt me with that," he said.

"Sir!"

Zack looked over and saw a Dorei man walk up. "Lieutenant?"

"Lieutenant Parga Draynal, sir," he answered, handing Zack a digital reader. "They decided to assign me to your mission, sir."

"Huh. They already sent Razal though."

"Lieutenant Razal will head the tactical team. I'll oversee any data transfers from the objective to ensure your computers remain safe."

Zack looked down at the reader. With a few button presses he confirmed the order codes inside and found they matched with Meridina's and Julia's. "Hrm. I wish they had told me before now. They got you signed on awfully late."

"I understand your irritation, sir," Draynal answered.

"Good. The last guest quarters are on Deck 3, Section 8. You'll get a bunk all to yourself." Zack motioned him in. "Now let's get going before they decide I need even more officers to carry around."

 

 

 

On the bridge of the _Aurora_ Robert watched the timer finish ticking its way to 1100. "Are we in location?"

"Scans confirm we're in the right place," Nick Locarno answered. "I'm maintaining us in far orbit over a gas giant's volcanic moon. If anyone's watching on long range sensors, they'll think we're doing a scientific survey."

"Miss al-Rashad, status of enemy ships in the area?"

The young Arabic woman at the Sensors and Science station responded immediately. "At least five on our long range sensors, but they are too far away to detect us launching."

Julia looked over at him. "It's time."

"Yeah."

"Is something wrong?"

"I... I'm just worried that I'll make the wrong decision," he admitted. "And I wish that I was on _Koenig_ instead of sitting back here making Zack and the others take the risks."

"Its part of being captain," Julia reminded him. "We do the big stuff and trust everyone else to do what they have to."

"Yeah." For a moment he considered his options. Aborting the mission kept creeping up in his head. What the security breaches could mean for everything, what they could cause, was too much of an unknown.

But he also knew it was now or never. If they didn't do it now, they'd never get another chance. Not without the Reich knowing they were up to something.

All he could really think about, though, was the dream. New Liberty burning under the disruptors and missiles of a Reich warship. _If we don't get to that place, they might find it. They might find how to build the drives_ , he reminded himself.

It helped to tilt the balance in his head.

"Send to _Koenig_. Launch on schedule," Robert ordered, knowing that he was casting the dice for Zack, Cat, Lucy, and everyone on _Koenig_ who would be risking their lives for this.

That was it. He'd made his call. Now he had to sit back and see how it worked.

 

 

 

They had just a couple minutes left when they arrived on the bridge. Barnes had beaten them there, sitting at Engineering Control and checking systems. Apley, Magda Navaez, and April Sherlily were already at their stations, leaving auxiliary operations for Lucy. There was no dedicated science/sensor station on the ship, so Caterina went to the back and found a stool at the ship status board, configuring one of its subscreens for her use.

"Everything ready?"

"All crew reported aboard, Commander," Magda replied. "All systems reporting ready."

Lucy joined in. "Cloaking device ready on your order."

"Warp core online," Barnes added. "We have warp power at command."

"Weapon checks are green. We have a full combat load of solar torpedoes," Sherlily confirmed. "Ready to load at your command."

"Well then, looks like we're ready. Disengage umbilicals, Apley."

"Yes sir. Disengaging umbilicals. Airlock closing. Airlock is clear and green."

Magda spoke up next. "Dock doors opening."

Along the rear of the _Aurora_ 's primary hull section, doors opened to reveal the central launch bay. Flanked by shuttle bays, and with the fighter hanger a dozen meters below at the top of the drive hull, the main bay was built specifically for ships like _Koenig_.

"We have clearance," Apley confirmed.

"Take us out, Apley."

"Yes sir." Apley brought his hands to the thruster controls. The _Koenig_ shifted backward on her retro-thrusters, sliding out of _Aurora_ 's launch bay. The _Aurora_ kept moving forward at standard launch velocity, allowing them clearance in mere seconds. "Firing impulsors now."

"As soon as we're clear, cloak the ship. Engage warp drive when ready, Warp 8."

"Aye sir."

"Here we go," Lucy said quietly, triggering the cloak the moment the _Aurora_ 's primary hull moved below the viewscreen. The _Koenig_ , now virtually invisible to the eye and to sensors, moved away from the _Aurora_ at full impulse until Apley was ready. "Engaging warp drive now."

Zack nodded, watching the streaks of warp space appear on his screen. _And off we go on a wild goose chase among the Nazis_ , he thought to himself. _Hopefully nothing will go wrong._

 

 

 

Meridina stepped back into her security office and found Jarod still at work on the coding. "Did he give you anything?", Jarod asked.

"He insists it is not his," Meridina answered. "Have you examined his background?"

"Yes," Jarod answered. "I didn't see anything suspicious. He seems to be an eager-to-please junior officer full of initiative. He's not the brightest you'll find and he tends to act without thinking."

"So I discovered." Meridina returned to her seat, near the computer console Jarod was operating. "Anything on the virus?"

"It's the most brilliant one I've ever seen," Jarod answered. "It's written to adapt its code to apply to different computer languages. Once it gets into the system it uses various coding tricks to compromise functions and create back doors for someone to access them, including auto-delete commands placed into the access logs."

"Could Liton have created this?"

"Honestly? No. It would take me months to try to construct something like this, and even more time to perfect it."

"It took you three hours to create a remote control command for a Dorei starbird's computer systems," Meridina reminded him.

"I remember. That's why I said only months for me. This is orders of magnitude above that in complexity, Commander. The coding language adaptions alone would take me weeks for just a beta version. And that's assuming it was my only job, I'd need support if I was doing this on my own."

She nodded. "Then it is unlikely to be a freelancer's tool."

"Not in origin."

So a spy agency."

"Or something like that, yes."

Meridina took a breath and focused, trying to settle her thoughts and apply her _swevyra_. She felt the connection of her life force to the universe at large and explored that connection, looking to find some answer.

A beep at her panel interrupted her. It was an incoming signal being run through encryption via the interuniversal relay at Harris Station. She pressed the button on the desk. Odo's face appeared on her screen. " _Commander, you were right. Chief O'Brien discovered a capsule hidden in a bulkhead in one of the spare quarters of that section. The capsule contained a powerful acidic agent and the corroded remains of a body. We've determined that the body was introduced into the acid during your ship's visit to_ Deep Space Nine."

_I knew it._ Meridina took in a breath. "We have had a security breach in our computers and I have a suspect. Did you recover anything from the remains?"

Odo looked off screen and nodded. He moved aside enough to allow Doctor Bashir to appear. " _The body was too damaged for me to recover cell samples, but Lieutenant Dax found organic residue and cells in the quarters. From those I was able to reconstruct a partial genetic profile. Odo will send you the information, but I can tell you already it was Dorei._ "

Meridina let out a curse, the kind that she was not supposed to utter. Her hand slammed the controls on her desk. "Security, this is a Priority One Alert. Find Lieutenant Draynal and take him into custody at once!"

" _That's not all, Commander_ ," Bashir continued. " _The organic residue also included a second sample contaminated by acid contact. I was able to match it anyway by comparing it to Constable Odo._ "

Meridina saw Jarod's eyes meet hers, a grim look on his face. She had the same. "In other words..."

" _...your imposter isn't a humanoid, Commander. He's a Changeling._ "

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aurora and Koenig crews are sent on a mission to infiltrate enemy space and locate the site of an ancient Darglan Facility, but an unknown threat and kept secrets will make the mission far more dangerous than they expected.

The _Koenig_ had crossed the border into hostile territory and was coming up on the scan point. Zack kept glancing toward Lucy and Magda, waiting to see if they saw anything.  
  
"I'm beginning the scan." Caterina leaned over her console. "We should have a fix soon."  
  
"Any ships on sensors?"  
  
"We've got at least three warp signatures on long-range sensors," Magda stated. "With two possible signatures. All are consistent with anti-matter pulse drives."  
  
"Keep an eye on them all."  
  
"Okay, scan complete." Caterina's voice picked up from excitement. "I'm checking with the other scans. This should narrow down the search field."  
  
"Put it up on the main viewer, Cat." Zack saw the image appear; a cube of space with _Koenig_ in the middle. It rotated around, showing the signatures Magda had spoken of.  
  
A blue sphere appeared in the map, not centered on it but still contained within. "Okay, our initial long-range scans indicated this area." Caterina continued to operate the console. "We're getting these returns now."  
  
The sphere shrunk down greatly. Where it had previously contained half a dozen systems it now held only two. "I'm bringing up information on S4W8-29DR and S4W8-33LA."  
  
"Two systems is at least narrowed down quite a bit."  
  
"Yes, but depending on interference, it could take us hours, even days, to thoroughly scan either." Caterina remained fixed on her results. "But we know the Darglan would put a Facility on a world that could bear life. We can use that to narrow it down."  
  
"Unless neither system has a garden world," Zack pointed out.  
  
"Well, yeah..." Caterina sighed. "Then we've got a long... aha!"  
  
"Good news?"  
  
"33LA has a garden moon."  
  
"Well there we are." Zack smiled thinly. The sooner they found this place the better. "Apley, set our course, best speed. Magda, send an update to _Aurora_."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
  
  
  
A lone engineering crewman walked down one of the corridors in the aft section of the _Koenig_ and spotted, to him, the peculiarity of a Dorei security officer. "Sir?" The young light-skinned Human stepped up to him. "Can I help you?"  
  
The officer turned from where he had been examining a console. "No, Crewman, you cannot."  
  
"We normally don't get security in this area, there are no living quarters, so I was just..."  
  
"...doing your job. Yes. Don't worry yourself, crewman, I'm just doing an inspection of ship's systems. You may resume your work."  
  
The crewman nodded and went to the accessway where he would be doing standard in-flight maintenance checks..  
  
The door was marked "Cloaking Device".  
  
  
  
  
Julia arrived in Draynal's quarters to discover it crawling with security guards. Meridina was busy speaking to Commander Kane. "...dangerous than anything you've seen yet," she was busy saying. "Make sure your subordinates are prepared."  
  
"Yes ma'am. We'll break out the DEWs, wide beams and pulse settings. If this thing is hiding, we'll find it."  
  
"Report contact immediately. And never let one of your people out of your sight."  
  
Kane nodded and left, saluting to Julia as he went. She nodded at him and moved on to Meridina. "What's wrong? Where's Lieutenant Draynal?"  
  
"Draynal is dead," Meridina informed her. "Murdered months ago on _Deep Space Nine_ and replaced by a shapeshifter. A Dominion Founder."  
  
Julia gasped in shock and dismay. "Have we found it? _Can_ we find it?"  
  
"I am not sure, it was fooling our internal sensors this entire time."  
  
"Meridina!"  
  
Julia noticed Jarod was in the room as well, sitting at a computer terminal. She went over with Meridina to speak with him. "Jarod? What is it?"  
  
Jarod pointed to the workstation. "He left in a bit of a hurry, or he didn't care for scrubbing the ways he had been using his intrusive program. I've got several access attempts for the control systems of the IU drive on this log, as well as a number of access logs for... just about everything. Security, Main Engineering, the Bridge, the Conference Room, every vital area is covered by this. He knows everything we plan."  
  
"He's got all sorts of sensitive material then," Julia pointed out.  
  
"Yes. And it gets worse. His last commands into the system were a general signal to something in the engineering hull and a set of orders." Jarod zoomed in on the latter.  
  
Julia read them and her eyes widened. "He has my signature code!"  
  
"He probably has everyone's," Jarod pointed out. "Nobody warned Zack about him so Zack wouldn't have questioned these orders. He wouldn't have a reason to."  
  
"So he's on the _Koenig_." Julia reached over and pressed her multidevice. "Andreys to Bridge. Get a priority message to _Koenig_ , they have a Changeling infiltrator aboard! Repeat, there is a Changeling infiltrator aboard _Koenig_!"  
  
  
  
  
Julia's report made Robert cringe inwardly. _I made the wrong call_ he thought to himself. "Hail _Koenig_ ," he ordered. "Give them the abort code. We are aborting the mission!"  
  
At Ops Lieuenant Jupap swiftly enacted his order. The Alakin male made a worried clicking noise from inside his beak after several key presses, and seconds, passed. "Sir, we're not receiving any response from _Koenig_."  
  
Dread filled Robert. "Send the emergency code, make sure they know it's a priority transmission."  
  
The Alakin quickly typed in the commands. "Still no response."  
  
"Run a full diagnostic on communications, make sure we're transmitting and receiving properly," Robert insisted.  
  
"Communications is functioning completely, sir. It must be on their end."  
  
"When did they last update?"  
  
"Just a little while ago, sir. They're on course to System LA33."  
  
"Plot a course then, maximum warp. We have to get to them."  
  
Locarno turned back. "Sir, if we go in the Reich ships will detect us coming."  
  
"I know," Robert said. "But we need to get into sublight communication range with the _Koenig_ and hope the Changeling didn't knock that out too."  
  
"Sir, all you'll do is ruin any chance we have of making this work."  
  
" _I know that, dammit!_ " Robert was surprised with himself at how loud he shouted. "But I'm not going to sit back and do nothing when that thing could be murdering my friends right now! We have to go rescue them."  
  
"With all due respect, sir..."  
  
"You got your orders, Lieutenant," Angel chimed in from Tactical, her eyes narrowing. "Get to them."  
  
Locarno's jaw clenched. Before he could say anything Julia stepped out of the turbolift. Seeing the scene before her Julia crossed her arms and asked, "What's going on here?"  
  
"Lieutenant Locarno was..." Robert let the sentence trail off.  
  
Locarno picked up on that. "I was recommending that instead of opening violating Nazi space and starting a war, we could try to get a long-range probe into sublight communications range."  
  
Robert swallowed. He hadn't thought of that.  
  
Julia looked between them, noticed the tense look on Angel, and smiled thinly. "A great idea, Lieutenant. Can the probe hit a high enough speed?"  
  
Lieutenant al-Rashad at Science spoke up. "Yes, Commander. We have four probes capable of sustained Warp 9 flight."  
  
"Have them loaded and launched," Robert said, looking at Julia. He could see she knew what had happened, and it made his cheeks burn with embarrassment. _I was screwing up there. Dammit, why didn't I think of the probes?_ "How is the investigation into the computer problem going?"  
  
"Slow. Jarod has crew checking out the plasma conduits for the warp nacelles, he found indications the Changeling hid sabotage charges for when we tried to go to warp again." Julia frowned. "This thing compromised all of our secure areas, it knew what we were going after."  
  
"So how's it going to get away?", Robert wondered aloud. Another thought made the burn in his cheeks grow. "So, if I had ordered us to warp..."  
  
"It would have blown up our warp drive."  
  
"Oh." Robert lowered his voice to a whisper. "Remind me to thank Locarno later."  
  
"Will do," she whispered back.  
  
  
  
  
 _Koenig_ made orbit over the garden moon in system LA33. The gas giant it was orbiting was made of hues of red and orange, a contrast to the blue and green of the moon itself. "Atmosphere is breathable," Caterina said. "23% oxygen count, no poisonous gases."  
  
"So we can beam down without breather gear. That's a relief," Lucy said.  
  
"Do we have a spot to beam down to, Cat?", asked Zack.  
  
"I'm running another scan to get a better fix... I think I have it." Caterina blinked. "Yeah, I think so." She hit a couple keys to route the image to the viewscreen.  
  
It was a clearing, about twenty square kilometers, in the middle of a temperate forest. In the middle of the clearing was a hill.  
  
"Another mound," Zack said. "That's got to be it."  
  
"That was my thought. I can't pinpoint anything exactly, but this is near the middle of the effect field." Cat hit a couple of keys and brought up a circle on the shot. "It's somewhere under this area."  
  
Zack pressed the intercom key on his chair. "Security and analysis teams to the transporter, now. Lieutenant Draynal, establish the quarantine drive on the computers." With Lucy and Tom already rising, Zack turned his chair to face Caterina. "Cat, do you think the Ratzis can see this...?"  
  
"I can't be sure," she answered. "From what I could see, their sensors don't have the same capabilities as ours, but they might have better sensors on other ships. And it also comes down to sensor operator and whether they're interested in it."  
  
"So we can't be sure they're not seeing this. Terrific." He nodded. "Alright, head on down with the others."  
  
Caterina nodded and went out the side door of the bridge.  
  
  
  
  
The mound looked to be at least sixty feet high when Lucy and the others materialized. Caterina's equipment was now equally shared amongst everyone. She held up the one box she was still carrying. "This moon is at .95Gs, just like our gravity field on the ship."  
  
"Great, I always hate how going planetside makes me feel like I've gained weight," Barnes remarked, heading up to the mound alongside the small engineering detachment he'd brought from the _Aurora_.  
  
"Well, technically, you _do_ gain weight when you go into a higher gravity field. It's your mass that doesn't change." Caterina hefted the container a few times.  
  
They began scaling the mound. The yellow star of the system warmed them all on what appeared to be a sunny spring day for this region of the moon. Lucy asked, "How does a garden moon have gravity that close to Earth's anyhow?"  
  
"Oh, plenty of possibilities. Most likely denser materials composition. The moon's mass is greater than what it would be if it had Earth's composition."  
  
"But it still has a breathable atmosphere."  
  
Caterina shrugged. "Yeah. But it can happen. It has happened. I'd need a lot more data to figure out how though."  
  
"Not exactly in our mission parameters, Cat," Barnes reminded her.  
  
That caused Caterina to sigh. "Yeah, I know."  
  
Lucy hid a grin. The fact that Caterina was not employing the Pout said something about how far she had matured lately. As they got to the top of the mound Lucy remarked, "You seem rather accepting of that. Didn't you pout more when you weren't allowed to go down and see the Stargate on Abdis R4A1?"  
  
"Yeah. But..." She swallowed. "Facing that admiral, it made me think. If guys like that find out about me pouting or something..."  
  
"They won't take it well, yeah."  
  
Nothing more was said until they were at the top of the mound. "What do we do know, sir?", one of the engineers asked Barnes.  
  
"Hell if I know. We never did figure out how the mound back at the Facility turned on." Barnes raised his multidevice and checked the scan readings it was giving. "No sign of any control surface."  
  
"It could be cloaked in some way," Caterina pointed out.  
  
"How _did_ you guys end up in the Facility anyway?", Lucy asked. "I heard Robert went in before you did."  
  
"Yeah. And he found a way back out. We thought he was nuts until it snagged all of us." Barnes moved the device around, tapping keys. "Nothing on the exotic bands either."  
  
"There's got to be some way," Caterina insisted. She began checking her own readings. "Maybe if we put the scanners up..."  
  
Lucy watched them work and took in a breath. Her thoughts were on the extraordinary things she'd done in the prior year. Flying a runabout to a landing her instruments decreed impossible, pulling a gun out of someone's hand... maybe this would count too?  
  
She suddenly wished she'd asked Meridina about what she'd done with the gun.  
  
"....vated it somehow." Lucy found her attention drawn to a discussion between Caterina and Barnes. "He was kneeling down, right?"  
  
"What, you think it was some switch in the mound? But we're not picking up anything," Barnes replied.  
  
"Yes, but we're using standard scanning. Here, let me try something." Caterina held up a scanning device from her pack and ran it over the mound. "This is one of the surviving scanners from the Facility. I've only used it for standard stuff, but maybe..." It beeped and Caterina let out a triumphant cheer. "Here!" She ran over to a part of the mound near the drop and dropped to her knees. Everyone came after her and looked down as she cleared the grass at the top. "It is cloaked, but the Darglan scanner says there's a plate of some sort embedded in the mound."  
  
"So how do we activate it?"  
  
Caterina pressed her hand against it. Nothing happened. She stood and put her foot on it. "Here. Polenko!"  
  
Polenko, one of her warrant officers, stepped over, a beefy Russian of about six feet three inches height. He put a foot on it. "Sorry Lieutenant," he said. "It's not working for me either."  
  
"Well this is just great," Barnes grumbled.  
  
Lucy stepped up to it. She had a sense that she could make it work. "Let me try."  
  
'You're a lot lighter than Polenko, Lucy...."  
  
"I don't think weight has anything to do with it," Lucy answered. "It's something else. Maybe it's why the thing on the farm mound back in Kansas never worked until Rob touched it." She brought her foot over and pressed it on the ground.  
  
"Well, if it's not weight, what could it be?" Barnes threw his arms up in frustration. "This is really..."  
  
Lucy shifted her position over the plate. "I think I've almost..."  
  
Light erupted from the base of the mound, creating a ring around them. Each felt the familiar sensation of a transporter effect and found themelves under ground. For Barnes and Caterina, the gray chamber they materialized in was very familiar. "Looks like the one we found," Caterina said quietly. "Or rather the one Robert found."  
  
Barnes stepped up to the door. A pair of green lights converged over him from a module above the door, making beeping and chirping noises as they did so. A light above the door went yellow. Barnes took a step forward but the door did not open.  
  
"Guess it doesn't like you." Caterina tried the same, but it rejected her as well.  
  
Feeling the hairs on her neck standing up, Lucy said, "Let me try" and stepped up to be scanners. When the green light finished sweeping over her there was a tone and the light above the door turned blue instead. "I think that did it," she said, walking up to the door.  
  
It slid open.  
  
"So it only opens for you and Rob," Barnes noted as they entered.  
  
As lights came on around them, Caterina murmured, "I don't think this is another Facility."  
  
Instead of the catwalks and pathways they'd expected they walked into a large chamber. "It looks Darglan," Barnes remarked. He walked toward the center of the chamber and was the first to arrive at a circular control station. He tapped keys on one end of it, but nothing happened.  
  
As Lucy approached the station lit up. Lights overhead came on and they could see the full chamber now, lined with even more data stations. " _Aterran genetic signature detected. Systems online._ "  
  
"It's... are you another Control?", Caterina asked urgently.  
  
"Negative. System is not designed to be a Control. System exists for sorting of data and proper recovery only."  
  
Lucy could literally feel Caterina's mix of relief and sadness.  
  
Barnes pressed the comm key on his multidevice. "Barnes to _Koenig_. We're inside, but it's some sort of data center, not a Facility. There's no docks for you to jump into. We'll set up enhancers so you can beam us in and out as needed."  
  
" _Alright. Keep me posted_ ," Zack replied over the comm.  
  
Barnes motioned to his engineers, who followed him to the side to begin setting up the transport signal enhancers.  
  
Caterina pressed a hand to a control panel, switching all of them into English. Above their heads a massive holographic starmap descended. "It's showing the Alpha Quadrant of this universe," Cat explained. "I think... I think it can show them all." She raised her head. "Computer, please describe the nature of this place."  
  
" _This is a Class A Data Backup Facility. The purpose of the facility is to maintain off-site backups of Darglan databases. It has been offline for approximately twenty-three hundred and ninety seven point six solar cycles._ "  
  
Caterina gasped. "Almost three thousand years?"  
  
"Um, ma'am?" One of the science crew looked up. "Didn't that thing just say twenty three hundred?"  
  
"Almost twenty-four," Caterina corrected. "But that's because it's going by Darglan solar cycles. The Darglan year is a quarter longer than Earth's." She brought up another display. "Does this data include the locations of other Emergency Facilities?"  
  
" _Only the one for this universe. Other Facility locations are kept only on Pasanan._ "  
  
"The Darglan Homeworld," Caterina sighed. It had been too much to ask for, but she had to try. "Okay, Computer, be ready to begin data transfer."  
  
" _Darglan technology detected. Aterran genetic signature detected. Permission granted. Preparing for transfer of archive and backup data._ "  
  
"There we go," Caterina said, pressing keys on the controls to begin the transfer.  
  
" _Data transfer enabled._ "  
  
"Now if only I could look through some of this data now..."  
  
"Business first, Cat," Lucy reminded her.  
  
"Oh, yes." Caterina brought up her multidevice and nodded to her assistants. They lowered packs to the ground. "We'll use these as a quarantine, just to make sure no harmful code goes on to _Koenig_." She looked back to the controls of her multidevice. "I'm patching a data stream through my system now. Begin download of data."  
  
An indicator appeared on the screen of her multidevice as the computer core data flowed through it and into the waiting drives, from which they could be uploaded to the _Koenig_. "This is going to take a while," she said.  
  
"How long?", Lucy asked, looking around.  
  
"At least six hours, and that's just the newer universe list and associated cartography. There's a ton of data in here that has to be moved." Caterina pressed a key and brought up a schematic. "They even have designs for newer reactors and a more efficient IU drive."  
  
"Encrypt it," Lucy urged her. "Heavily."  
  
"Uh... okay." Caterina looked at her. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Something's wrong," Lucy answered.  
  
"Oh? What?"  
  
"I'm not sure. But I know something's wrong. It... it just doesn't feel right."  
  
  
  
  
In the transporter room on _Koenig_ , the operator saw the board light up with the connection to the enhancers. "We have the link to the enhancers," she said aloud. "Preparing to transport second teams."  
  
Amongst the waiting officers, Lieutenant Draynal stepped up to the transporter pad, taking a place in the rear. While others stepped up, he set his hands behind his back and put an appendage against the multidevice on his right forearm. He pressed the transmit key when the operator said, "Transporting now." A faint smile crossed his face as the transporter beam whisked him away.  
  
  
  
  
Six figures appeared inside the hexagon of transport enhancers Barnes' crew had set up near the entrance to the facility. "Okay everyone," Barnes began to say. "I need...."  
  
" _Threat detected. Threat detected._ "  
  
Alarms began blaring in the structure. Yellow beams of light appeared from the ceiling and centered toward the rear, where Lieutenant Draynal stood quietly.   
  
" _Verified signature. Universe S5T3 Shapeshifting Being, Dominion Founder. Locking down all data systems._ "  
  
For a moment there was simple confusion and chaos, some looking toward "Draynal", Caterina checking the now blank data transfer screens.  
  
Lucy had already drawn her pistol, but she was the only one to do so before the Changeling struck. The humanoid form melted into amber liquid. Trendrils lashed out and took enough solidity to strike the heads of the other officers who transported down. Blue bolts came from Lucy's pistol, but they missed as the Changeling zipped along, a fast ooze that slammed into Barnes as he went for his pistol.  
  
The security team went for their rifles and began firing, driving the Changeling into the corner. It vanished into the shadows.  
  
"Lucero to _Koenig_!" Lucy got on her communications. "One of the officers you just beamed down is some kind of shapeshifter! We need help!"  
  
  
  
  
Zack had slipped into his office for a cup of coffee when he felt the rumble through the ship, followed by a second one a moment later. Immediately he knew something was wrong and was at the door in seconds. "Report!"  
  
"There were explosions on Decks 2 and 3," Magda answered. "It took out the power conduits feeding the cloaking device and the warp nacelles."  
  
The single word that went through Zack's head was "Dammit!"  
  
But he kept himself from saying that. "Set the ship alert to Code Yellow. And get me the _Aurora_."  
  
Yellow running lights appeared on panels around the bridge. Magda went to work on her console. After a couple of long, deep response sounds came she shook her head. "Something's wrong with long-range communications. I'm not getting a response from the..." She stared at her screen. "Oh no."  
  
"Lieutenant?"  
  
"Something triggered a lockout in long-range communications, I can't send any hails. But the system is transmitting anyway!"  
  
Zack felt his heart speed up and his stomach churn. "We're transmitting live? Openly? It's not a directional beam transmission?"  
  
"No sir. It's a general one." Magda drew in a breath. "One of the contacts on long range sensors just changed direction. They're on course to our position."  
  
 _Oh no. Oh crap. They saw us. They know something is here._ "Bridge to Engineering, we need the cloak back, and we need it now!"  
  
" _The entire conduit is blown out, Commander, it's going to take hours to install a new one._ ", Derbely answered. " _And the explosion damaged the bracing on both nacelles, we're going to need at least ten hours to safely go to warp._ "  
  
Zack swallowed. _We can't run and we can't hide._ "ETA to the contact?", he asked.  
  
Magda shook her head. "They just hit Warp 9. Twenty-six minutes at best."  
  
Frustrated and angry at what was going on with his ship, he bellowed, "What the hell happened?!"  
  
"Sabotage," Apley answered.  
  
"I can confirm that," Magda said. "Someone uploaded a jammer program into our communications system. It's locked up long-range communications, we could be getting signals every second and the board wouldn't show it."  
  
"Sherlily, weapons?"  
  
April Sherlily checked her board and nodded. "Weapon systems showing no problems."  
  
"Then we have less than half an hour to solve this." Zack looked to Magda. "Beam the explosives down. Tell them to get what they can and prepare for beamup in twenty minutes. We're going to have to blow that place sky high." He stood up and put his hand on Apley's shoulder. "Ap, go get security, I want the entire ship searched."  
  
  
  
  
Barnes picked himself off the ground while some of the science officers went for the fallen officers. Most were breathing, but an Alakin did not move. "Crushed her skull in," Barnes muttered, looking at his display. "Just like that. Just what the hell is that thing?!"  
  
"A Changeling," Caterina whimpered. "It's... it's one of the Dominion Founders. I... I read the report... oh God, I'm going to..."  
  
"Cat! Focus!"  
  
"Nobody into the shadows!", Barnes shouted. "Keep sight at all times, it could replace any one of us!"  
  
A tone came to Caterina's multidevice. She tapped a button and Magda appeared as a holo-image. " _We're preparing to beam down explosives, Commander Carrey wants them set in twenty minutes so we can beam you out._ "  
  
"What?" Caterina stared at the image of Magda on her multidevice. "Twenty minutes?! We can't get anything in that amount of time!"  
  
" _I'm sorry, but it has to be that long. We've got a Nazi ship bearing down on us within half an hour. And we have no warp drive or cloak._ "  
  
Caterina's eyes widened. "What's going on up there?"  
  
" _Sabotage._ "  
  
"We've got our own problems," Lucy said. "You beamed a Changeling down here."  
  
"So where is it?!", one of the security officers demanded. "I've got nothing on my sensors!"  
  
"We can't set explosives effectively if we can't go around the structure," an engineer pointed out.  
  
"And that thing can pick people off if you do," Barnes countered. "We need another option."  
  
Having overheard all of this, Magda go back over the comm. " _We're sending down another security team. Standby..._ "  
  
A moment later, columns of energy coalesced inside the enhancers.  
  
The Changeling struck like lightning. It fell from the ceiling in the form of a four-legged, two-armed beast, all claws and fangs with a mottled blue look to is flesh. It hit one enhancer with the full force of its mass and knocked it out of place.  
  
The enhancement field collapsed.  
  
Barnes was already shouting into his own multidevice. "Cancel the transport! Cancel!"  
  
But the figures didn't simply disappear like a canceled transporter beam. They flickered, coalescing just long enough for six stunned faces to form through the light.  
  
And then the light beams fell apart and there was nothing.  
  
Energy fire coalesced on the Changeling, but it was already shifting shape again, squatting low as a four legged creature that zipped across the distance. One of their security officers screamed as a metal blade plunged into his belly and came back out. It made a mighty leap afterward and slammed into another, knocking her over and leaving multiple wounds in her torso. Tendrils with blades attached lashed out and sliced into the shoulder of one officer and the throat of the next.  
  
In less than ten seconds, the Changeling had wiped out their security detachment.  
  
The engineers had found their defensive sidearms now, but their aim was off; the terror of this killer in their midst was too great. It went after Caterina, who was fumbling for her own sidearm. She let out a scream as it lunged for her with a mass of blades.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aurora and Koenig crews are sent on a mission to infiltrate enemy space and locate the site of an ancient Darglan Facility, but an unknown threat and kept secrets will make the mission far more dangerous than they expected.

On the bridge of the _Aurora_ , Jupap's voice ended the uncomfortable quiet. "We've just picked up a transmission from the _Koenig_ , Captain. It's... just general identification data?"  
  
Robert and Julia exchanged worried looks. "That's it?" Julia's face showed she had just considered something further. "Was it a narrow-beam transmission?"  
  
"No," Jupap confirmed.  
  
"Status of those Nazi ships, Lieutenant?", Robert asked al-Rashad.  
  
"They're all on course to System LA33, sir," al-Rashad replied.  
  
Robert felt his heart stop. _I should have aborted the moment we found that virus. Oh God, what have I done?_  
  
Julia got to the comms before he did. "Commander Meridina, status of the sabotage charges?"  
  
" _We have removed two. Three more must be removed before we can go to warp._ "  
  
"Can they go any faster? _Koenig_ has been compromised and there are Reich ships inbound to their position."  
  
" _Not safely, Commander. These were carefully planted and must be removed delicately._ "  
  
Julia nodded. "I understand. Bridge out." She tapped the comm button on her chair again.  
  
"I...." Robert fought through his panic and found his voice. "I have to go inform Admiral Maran. Jupap, status of the probe?"  
  
"It is ten minutes out from LA33," the Alakin answered.  
  
"As soon as it arrives, use it to contact _Koenig_. Make sure they know what's going on and let them know we're coming as quickly as we can." Robert stood up and went to his office. "And get me Harris Station on subspace."  
  
  
  
  
Lucy had intended to go for her sidearm as well, out of pure reflex. But she stopped. Something inside of her, some deep feeling that was more than instinct, told her that she'd never beat this thing with a gun. It was too fast, too mobile, and too clever. She needed another approach.  
  
She remembered the hostage situation with the killer Lyle when he tried to take Jarod. She could remember that feeling as she reached out with... something... and pulled the gun from his hand. Could she do that again? The energy difference, the mass to be effected... it seemed too great a gap to cover.  
  
But she had to try.  
  
That thought flashed through her head as the Changeling charged on Caterina, the blades emerging from its form threatening to cut her apart. Lucy forced a breath in and remembered that invisible force inside of her she had called upon. She called upon it, pleaded with it, insisted on it coming forth. She _needed_ it.  
  
And she felt it.  
  
Before she hadn't, but now she felt... something. A well of energy within her being, a power that felt warm and natural to her, like it had always been there, ready to be used and never called upon. But she needed it now and it was ready.  
  
With every fiber of her being, Lucy pushed her open palm forward and threw the energy outward.  
  
There was no flash of light, no visible burst of energy. There was just the energy within her rushing out, not just from her arm but her mind and soul.  
  
To everyone else, it looked like the Changeling had been struck by a truck. An invisible one at that. The mostly amorphous mass of amber and its glittering silver blade appendages flew violently to one side, slamming into the wall of the facility with enough force that the entire thing slurped into a puddle.  
  
"Holy crap." Barnes' voice was hoarse with shock. "Jesus, Lucy, how the Hell did you do that?!"  
  
Lucy sucked in breath. "I... I just... it's..."  
  
" _Carrey to away team!_ " Zack's voice echoed over their multi-devices. " _Status!_ "  
  
"Security team's down, at least three dead," Barnes replied. "That thing is still around, and we can't set explosives without risking it picking us off. There's just not enough time!"  
  
" _Well, think of something! You've got ten minutes before I'm up to my neck in Nazis!_ "  
  
Caterina picked herself up and went back to the controls. "System, please respond!"  
  
Lucy joined her, hitting one control. "Listen, if you unlocked for me, do so again!"  
  
The systems came back online. " _Warning. Dominion Founder present. Cannot restore control access without override._ "  
  
"Then you've got the override," Lucy replied. "Do you have any provisions for self-destruction?"  
  
" _The dimensionally-transcedental field can be disabled._ "  
  
Lucy pressed the comm key on her multidevice. "Zack, how long until we have those visitors?"  
  
" _Seven minutes._ "  
  
"System, do you understand our time units?"  
  
" _They are comprehended, yes._ "  
  
"Then set the dimensional-transcadental field to collapse in eight min..."  
  
Lucy felt deep foreboding and danger. The energy she'd begun to feel within tingled and wavered, spurring her to move. She looked up and raised her arm, directing the energy above her.  
  
The Changeling was caught in mid-air, in the form of the same vicious predator as before. The blast of energy that Lucy felt come from within her sent it flying back toward the shadows. The moment it landed the engineers began peppering it with fire. Blue bolts coalesced on the form until it got back into the shadows, melting back into its natural state in the process.  
  
Caterina was staring at Lucy in shock. "How did you do that?"  
  
"I... I'm like Meridina now. I thin," Lucy explained. "Have you gotten that data?"  
  
"Well, some, yeah. But twenty minutes isn't nearly enough to even load a...."  
  
"Focus on the astrographical data, anything that will lead us to the other Facility that this location is supposed to support."  
  
"Good idea." She went back to work.  
  
Lucy turned to Barnes, who was already getting the enhancers back on. "Tom...?"  
  
"We'll get the enhancers back up and evac the security guys," he answered.  
  
"I need one of those explosive packs." Lucy looked to the pile and extended her hand. She felt the energy within her stir and saw one begin to wiggle. She focused, straining to control it....  
  
She felt the Changeling coming even earlier this time. Her focus dispersed shifted direction, creating a general wave of force that pulled the satchel along and slammed it into the middle of the Changeling's mass as it surged toward Barnes. It slurped it up. "Get one of the packs!", she shouted. "And get those drives beamed up."  
  
" _Five minutes until we're up to our necks in Nazis!_ ," Zack's voice announced.  
  
"System, drop dimensional field in five minutes!"  
  
A scream came from Warrant Officer Polenko. He had been dutifully carrying one of the explosive packs to the door. But now the Changeling was surging through and around him. Blood erupted from wounds where it turned itself into blades to slice him. Caterina cried out "Polenko!" and sobbed as they watched the gentle giant get sliced to death.  
  
But the Changeling was just killing him as an extra. It had been pursuing the explosive instead, grabbing it and slinging it to join the others. It surged over the pile and went beyond.  
  
Each was now lit up.  
  
"Everyone take cover!", Barnes shouted, leaping and pulling one of the engineers down.  
  
It wouldn't be enough. Lucy knew those packs would probably vaporize anyone caught in the open explosion. " _Koenig_ , target whatever is in the enhancers and beam into space!" She called upon the energy that was stirring inside her, growing stronger through use, and pressed it against the pile, pulling them over into the midst of the enhancers. White light whisked them away.  
  
"Now what are we going to do?", Barnes asked. "Even if the DT field collapses, the structure remains and the Ratzis might find somehing."  
  
Lucy had already thought of it, but didn't want to say anything. "Get the drives beamed up. Cat, do you have the data?!"  
  
"Most of it!", Caterina answered. "Bu there's just so much stuff here we could..."  
  
"Forget it!" Lucy took her by the shoulder. "Get into the enhancers, now! Take a full drive with you!"  
  
"B-but.... why?"  
  
"Because your sister will murder me if I let you get blown up," Lucy pointed out, pushing her on. "Now go."  
  
  
  
  
On the _Koenig_ Zack was literally sweating the minutes away. "Three minutes until contact drops out of warp," Magda said. "Going by the profile it looks like a light warship, _Z-2500_ -class."  
  
"A destroyer then." Zack nodded. "We could probably take them."  
  
"The second contact out is cruiser-sized, ETA five minutes. Profile matches..." Magda turned. "It's a _Lutzow_ -class. A battlecruiser."  
  
"And we probably can't take them." Zack felt his stomach twist. _Warp out, cloak out, all we can do is run at sublight._ "Are there any asteroid fields we can fit in?"  
  
"None," Magda answered.  
  
"Any luck getting signals out?"  
  
"Long range communications are still jammed up. We have a crew trying to purge the jammer from the computers, but they're not done..." Magda's board made a tone. "Wait. We just picked up a sublight communication. It's... it's from _Aurora_!"  
  
Zack let out a gasp of relief. "What? Put them on!"  
  
"Audio only."  
  
Robert's voice came over the speaker. "Aurora _to_ Koenig _. We're coming as soon as we can, but the Changeling planted charges on our warp drive and we're not able to go to warp yet. Hold out as long as you can._ "  
  
"We've got a battle cruiser coming in, Rob, I'm not sure how long we can last," Zack pointed out.  
  
" _We'll be there as quickly as we can, I promise._ "  
  
"One minute!", Magda warned.  
  
" _Koenig_ to ground party, we need you up in sixty seconds!", Zack shouted.  
  
  
  
  
As soon as Zack said that, the Changeling charged again.  
  
The last of the science and engineering team disappeared into white light, carrying the last drives with them save the ones in Barnes' hand. Lucy called on the energy inside her again, but this time the Changeling zipped around Barnes and she hit him too, knocking him flat. It twisted around his legs and there was an audible snap followed by a scream, hobbling Barnes.  
  
A tendril struck out from the amber mass, going for the enhancers again. Lucy realized what this meant; it was trying to get to the transporters and to beam back to the _Koenig_. She couldn't let that happen, no matter what else came.  
  
She pulled her pulse pistol and fired. Blue bolts of energy struck the devices and made them explode with sparks, their light gray surfaces turning black from each shot. The Changeling recoiled and quivered from the result. "Take the transporter back up!", Lucy shouted to Barnes, motioning toward the door.  
  
He struggled to his feet but stumbled forward again with a growl of pain. "Dammit! My leg! I think he broke it!"  
  
" _Thirty seconds!_ ", Zack cried over their multidevices.  
  
Lucy ran toward him, beating the Changeling by a few seconds; more than enough time to rally the energy she felt within her and blast the creature with it again. It was thrown back, giving her room to scoop up Barnes and put his right arm over her shoulder so he could support his injured leg. "Come on!" She pulled him along to the opening of the data facility.  
  
The door opened for them and they went through. Something snagged Lucy's ankle and she looked back to see the Changeling forming an appendage, trying to pull her back in. "Let go!", she cried out in frustration, kicking at the amber tentacle gripping her left ankle. But it was like trying to stomp play-do; it just absorbed every blow. Beyond the door the rest of its mass came up.  
  
" _Ten seconds!_ "  
  
Lucy reached into the power she was feeling inside and pushed with it, with all of her might, making a push motion with her free hand. The Changeling's main mass took the hit and flew backward.  
  
But it still held on.  
  
  
  
  
On the bridge of the _Koenig_ Zack saw the Nazi destroyer decelerate from warp. It was a more compact vessel, a dagger-blade with twin nacelles built into the rear section that were only slightly angled upward. The peculiar sight of the nacelle ramscoops being blue and the nacelle field generators red stook out as starkly as the swastika emblem emblazoned on the ship's forward hull. "Reich vessel hailing," Magda said. "I have them on sublight audio."  
  
"Time to weapons range?"  
  
"Entering range now." Magda looked back. "We need to raise shields."  
  
 _That would leave Tom and Lucy trapped. They'd get captured. I'm not leaving them to whatever Nazis might do!_ Zack pressed down on his intercom key. "Transporters, do we have transporter lock on the last of the ground team?"  
  
" _No. We've lost the enhancers._ "  
  
Zack swallowed. Over his speakers a voice spoke with the hint of machine translation. " _Alliance Vessel_ Koenig _, this is_ Fregattenkapitän _Kaempfer of the Reich vessel_ Jaeke _. You are in violation of Reich territory. Stand down and prepare for inspection and boarding._ "  
  
"They're arming weapons," Magda warned. "They're trying to get a target lock!"  
  
  
  
  
Lucy howled in anger and let loose with the energy within her again, but the Changeling wouldn't let go. " _Let go of me!_ ", she screamed.  
  
Instead it drew ever closer.  
  
Inside her, Lucy felt the energy shift. It became colder as her fear and anger built. She felt like she wanted to destroy the Changeling. Not just kill, but destroy. Tear apart. Annihilate. Punish this _thing_ that was assailing her, that had _killed her comrades and was trying to kill her! She wanted it to die and die and...!_ As these feelings washed over her the energy took form from her hand, crackling like lightning and covering the Changeling.  
  
The sound of a pulse pistol echoed in the small chamber. Barnes had his pulse pistol up from where he was laying on the ground, blasting away as he did. At that range he couldn't miss. Blue bolts slammed into the offending tendril of the Changeling's mass repeatedly until an inhuman shriek came from within and the tendril turned black. Some of it disintegrated into black ash and the rest withdrew inside the doomed data chamber. The door slammed shut with finality.  
  
Lucy watched it go and looked back to Barnes with a cold feeling inside of her. Barnes looked back at her and briefly looked concerned, even terrified, before shouting, "Come on!"  
  
That snapped Lucy out of it. She pushed the coldness away and helped him back to his feet. They went up to the transporter and she slammed her hand on the blue control in the middle.  
  
Just as the energy pulled them away, a horrible sound came from within the data facility, a sound of rushing air and a screech. The dimensional field within was shutting down, and the entire volume of the facility was being forcefully shrunk to the volume it took up in normal space.  
  
With the Changeling inside.  
  
Once they materialized on the mound tremors came from within. The process of eliminating the data facility seemed to extend to the mound. " _Koenig_ , beam us up!", Barnes shouted. "Fire on our location!"  
  
The mound collapsed beneath their feet. As they started to fall, the _Koenig_ snatched them away with its transporter system.  
  
  
  
  
" _We have them aboard, Commander_ ," the transporter chief said.  
  
"Raise shields! Sherlily, are you ready to put torpedoes into that mound?", Zack asked.  
  
"Shields up," Magda confirmed.  
  
"I have a lock through the aft launcher, sir," she replied.  
  
"Good. Now let's see if I can prevent us from having a shooting war. Hold fire until I say so" Zack drew in a breath and nodded to Magda, who hit a key and caused the familiar chirp of an opening comm channel. "Reich vessel _Jaeke_ , this is Commander Zachary Carrey of the _Koenig_. We apologize for our violation of your space. We have suffered several system failures and are still trying to restore warp capability. As soon as we have it, we intend to withdraw."  
  
The door at the rear of the bridge opened, admitting Lucy. "Tom is with the medics, the Changeling broke his leg."  
  
"Are you sure he's...?"  
  
"He was inside the data facility when it went crunch," Lucy said. She had just regained her breath, but that coldness she'd felt was still fresh to her. There was something terrifying about it. "If you want to make sure he's dead, a solar torpedo into the mound should do the job."  
  
"Not until I deal with them," Zack said, pointing to the Reich ship.  
  
" _Alliance vessel, cut all engine power, lower your shields, and prepare for boarding. Do not resist or we wil open fire._ "  
  
Zack swallowed and turned back to face Caterina. "Cat, any ideas?"  
  
"I've got nothing," Caterina said from the rear status console. "I'm still trying to see if that _thing_ left us any gifts in the computers."  
  
Zack almost asked how many people they lost, since so many were from his crew. But he forced himself to concentrate on the situation in front of him.  
  
And with it, the terrible knowledge that he might be the one starting a war.  
  
"Koenig _, you have ten seconds to comply. If you do not stand down you will be fired upon!_ "  
  
  
  
  
On the bridge of the _Aurora_ Robert was still managing to hold down lunch. Sensing his impatience, Julia was the one who hit the intercom. "Commander Meridina, status?!"  
  
" _We are removing the final charge now, Commander. Standby... standby...._ "  
  
The bridge was tense as Meridina's words came through.  
  
" _....standby.... the charge is removed!_ "  
  
"Mister Locarno, maximum warp, engage!", Robert shouted. Hitting his own intercom key, he called up Engineering. "Mister Scott, remember those warp records we set? We need to beat _those_."  
  
" _Aye sir, ye'll nae be let down._ "  
  
By that point Locarno had finished double-checking the course and was hitting the warp key. In the space of a second _Aurora_ was racing through the stars at a speed she had never matched before.


	5. Chapter 5

The ten seconds ticked down slowly, an eternity between each. Zack watched the timer as he lost that precious time. His instincts demanded he attack first, that if he got the first shot he stood a better chance of winning.  
  
But his heart reminded him that if he fired first, the war would be _his_ fault.  
  
 _It already is. You're here, in their territory, aren't you?_  
  
"Sir...." Apley was looking back from the helm.  
  
"Reich warship is locking on," Magda warned. "Weapons powering up."  
  
"I have a shot," Sherlily added.  
  
"Sir, we need orders," Apley reminded him.  
  
Zack ran his fingers on his temples. "Evasive maneuvers, Plan Indigo, Lieutenant."  
  
The _Koenig_ 's impulse drives powered up in tandem with the maneuvering systems. As the ship made a twist and a turn, green energy streaked by it. The ship rocked slightly under them. "They've opened fire," Apley said.  
  
"Shields still at ninety-eight percent, it was a glancing..." The ship rocked harder this time. "Now ninety-three percent."  
  
"Sherlily, put a solar torpedo the location of that mound, now," Zack ordered. "I'm not going to have them find any trace of the Darglan technology."  
  
"Yes sir." Sherlily hit a key. "Torpedo away.... impact. Complete destruction of the surrounding area."  
  
The ship rocked hard again. "Anti-matter missiles acquiring," Magda warned. "Shields at eighty-six percent."  
  
"Evasive Plan Charlie!" Zack looked back to Caterina. "C'mon, Cat, tell me you've got something we can try."  
  
"I'm re-setting the navigational deflector to try and jam their missiles' targeting systems," Caterina said. "But I don't think it's going to work well."  
  
"Every little bit we can get, Cat." Zack turned back to the screen and drew a breath. "Alright, they fired the first shot. April, full spread, hold nothing back! Apley, Attack Plan Bravo!"  
  
At Apley's handling the _Koenig_ made a spin in space, shifting up and down and over to make several disruptor bolts miss or barely graze the shields. _Koenig_ turned to face her attacker. Her phasers blazed to life, thick amber pulses erupting from near her swept-forward nacelles and slamming into the destroyer's own deflectors. Solar torpedoes shined with the blue-white fields of their drives before they found their mark, slamming the enemy ship's shields.  
  
"Direct hit," Sherlily said. "I'm maintaining fire. Enemy shields at seventy-five percent and going down."  
  
The ship rocked hard under them, straining everyone against their harnesses. "Cat, I need something done with those missiles!", Zack said urgently.  
  
"Shields holding at seventy percent." The _Koenig_ rocked again as it came around, Apley trying to match the lithe Reich destroyer's movements to keep it in the crosshairs. "Sixty-six percent. Slight armor damage to Deck 2 port side."  
  
"Firing," Sherlily said again. On the screen more phaser fire and torpedoes converged on the enemy ship. The pilot twisted to one side, forcing Apley to adjust, and half of the barrage and torpedoes missed. "Enemy shields at sixty percent."  
  
"We've got an agility advantage, let's use it."  
  
"Aye Commander!"  
  
Under Apley's control the _Koenig_ 's maneuvering became more aggressive and agile. G-forces acted against the crew on board as the inertial dampeners struggled to keep up from the ship's shifting and twisting and turning. With her superior agility and sublight speed _Koenig_ could break off and make attack runs. After the ship shook again - "Shields down to sixty percent." - Apley pulled them up on the Reich destroyer and let Sherlily batter it with the _Koenig_ 's weapons. "Pass them. Attack Plan Whiskey on my mark," Zack ordered, keeping his excitement down. In his mind he visualized the maneuvering of both ships, the chance to get his main weapons to bear on weak enemy shields.  
  
The _Koenig_ let loose, pummeling the Reich destroyer repeatedly and degrading their shields. "They're shifting shields to the bow," Magda said.  
  
"Good for them.... brace yourselves!"  
  
Zack noticed the plumes of antimatter missiles erupting from the Reich ship as they made their pass. At this range there was no hope of evasion; an entire salvo pummeled the _Koenig_ , making the ship rock violently. One of the secondary consoles sparked from feedback. "Shields down to forty percent!"  
  
"Mark!"  
  
At Zack's order Apley executed a near-flawless turn, bringing the ship's bow to face the aft of the enemy ship. Sherlily had the phasers blazing and fired a full salvo of torpedoes into the Reich destroyer's aft. The ship's shields flickered as their command crew tried to re-direct power back to aft, but it came a split second too late. The phasers blasted through them and made them fail, with the final bursts of energy slamming into bare hull and sending flames and debris spiraling from the impact points.  
  
Four solar torpedoes crashed into the ship's aft. One hit a nacelle and blew it apart; the other three struck various parts of its rear section. The entire Reich destroyer disappeared in a blast of bright white energy.  
  
There were some cheers and joyous sighs, but Zack shook his head. He'd just destroyed a Nazi ship... in their own space. Even if they were bastard Nazis... he was the one who was killing them in their territory. If this became a war, it could end up being _his_ fault.  
  
"Damage report," he asked.  
  
"Shields still at forty percent," Magda answered. "We took armor damage to Decks 1 and 2. Warp drive, cloaking device, and long range communications still offline."  
  
"Time to that battle cruiser?"  
  
"Two minutes. Wait, one minute, they just accelerated."  
  
"Dammit," Zack muttered. "Cat, have any science stuff?"  
  
"If we had time I'd say go for the third gas giant," Caterina replied. "We could mask our energy signature more easily."  
  
"It'd take hours to get there at sublight," Apley pointed.  
  
"Yeah, I know," Cat replied.  
  
"Tell me you can get more jamming on their missiles, Cat," Zack asked.  
  
"Well... I can try," she answered.  
  
"Alright." Zack took a breath to steady his nerves. " _Aurora_ is on our way, we just have to hold out as long as we can." He keyed the intercom. "Medbay, how is Lieutenant Barnes?"  
  
" _Tired of getting knocked around,_ " Barnes retorted.  
  
"Talking to the Doc, Tom."  
  
" _I mended his leg_ ," Doctor Opani answered, her accent the lilting one of a Mayali Dorei. " _He needs follow-up care, but given all of the shaking I'm guessing you need him on duty?_ "  
  
"That I do, Doc. Tom, can you get me some shield power back?"  
  
" _Sure, I know some tricks. There's always some room to shore 'em up even if they've been strained._ "  
  
"Get to it. Hostile coming in...." Zack almost asked when, but didn't have to. He looked on the screen as the bigger, nastier cousin of the destroyer they'd just vaporized dropped out of warp, bristling with torpedo and missile bays and disruptor cannon emplacements. "Evasive Plan Charlie, Ap, and get us close without going by those missile bays."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"Communication coming in," Magda said.  
  
"Go ahead and put them on," Zack answered.  
  
" _Alliance warship, this is_ Kapitän _Heydrich of the_ Scharnhorst _. You are in violation of the territory of the Third Reich and have murdered the crew of a Reich vessel. Surrender your vessel immediately or it shall be destroyed or taken, and no mercy shall be shown._ "  
  
Caterina let out a stifled whimper. Lucy eyed Zack. "They'll probably be worse than Duffy was," she remarked, reminding Zack that Lucy was no stranger to what ruthless men could do to those in their power.  
  
"Yeah, but it might let us stall for time." Zack nodded to Magda. " _Kapitän_ Heydrich, this is Commander Zachary Carrey of the Alliance starship _Koenig_. If you want someone for the deaths of that crew, I'll beam over and you can hold me, but I won't turn my crew over to you. Let them go with this ship."  
  
" _That is unacceptable._ " There was a sharp click.  
  
"They're locking on!", Magda shouted.  
  
"Evasives, Apley!"  
  
 _Koenig_ began to maneuver just in time as emerald beams of disruptor energy lashed out at them. The _Koenig_ drew close, phasers blazing and pounding the shields of the larger vessel. "Enemy shields holding, only down to 94%," Magda answered. "This ship is tougher than the cruiser we worked with in Krellan Nebula, it's got an armored hull backing up its shielding."  
  
Zack watched another large blast of green energy go by the screen, one of many small and large bursts and beams trying to hit his ship. "We're just buying time for _Aurora_ to get here. Put all power to engines and shields."  
  
The ship lurched under them, showing that despite Apley's best piloting efforts they couldn't avoid every shot. "Some of those disruptor weapons are packing a punch," Magda warned.  
  
"Make sure to keep away from those super-disruptors then, Ap,"  
  
"Yes sir," Apley answered.  
  
Under his control _Koenig_ made a tight turn as it came out by the aft of the _Scharnhorst_ , avoiding the aft disruptors as they did. Missiles flew out of their launch bay and started tracking to acquire.  
  
"Cat, we could use..."  
  
"I know." Caterina manipulated something on the control. "I'm sending out interference, but I can only spoof so many!"  
  
The ship rocked violently as a missile found them, followed by a direct hit by a disruptor. "Shields down to twenty-six percent!", Magda warned. "Damage on Deck 2."  
  
"Keep it up, Ap," Zack urged, watching Sherlilly take what shots she could. More torpedoes went out, slamming into shields. "Status on that battlecruiser, April?"  
  
"Their shields are stiill holding at eighty percent." The _Koenig_ shook again. "We're whittling them down but we haven't gotten the shields low enough to make a difference."  
  
"We just have to keep ourselves in the game," Zack said.  
  
The _Koenig_ made another tight turn in space to resume a strafing run along the Nazi battlecruiser's belly. Phaser fire defiantly hammered at the big swastika insignia on the lower bow, held back by the cruiser's powerful shields. The ship twisted and weaved to avoid fire. Missiles pursuing it didn't always hit, missing thanks to Caterina's desperate jamming efforts or even slamming into the _Scharnhorst_ 's shields themselves.  
  
It was a shark versus a whale; the whale was big, it could take hits, but it couldn't keep up with the shark.  
  
Zack tried not to hope for too much. He wasn't out to take this ship down, just to survive long enough for the _Aurora_ to get here so they could dock and get away from this mess of a mission.  
  
Apley's job was harder, trying to not allow the missiles to hit them at launch but also to avoid getting too close to the big "super-disruptor" emplacements on the Reich battlecruiser. He did his job as well as he could... but found that one maneuver to avoid a torpedo put him in a position to have to risk either. Seeing the missiles launching he made a split second decision to risk the disruptor, trying to time it between shots. They came up on the weapon.  
  
It fired.  
  
The _Koenig_ shook violently under them. Feedback from the battered shields caused Apley's station to explode in sparks, making him cry out from the burns that resulted. "Shields down below ten percent!", Magda shouted. "Damage on all decks, forward port sections!"  
  
"I've lost the port phasers!", Sherlily added.  
  
That news was bad enough. But there was worse.  
  
For one pivotal moment, there was no helm control on _Koenig_.  
  
Missiles fired from the battlecruiser converged, along with the other emplacements training on a ship that was not quite so hard to hit as it had been. Despite Caterina's efforts to deflect the missiles, two still went off close enough to do damage. More sparks showered from the _Koenig_ 's overloaded power systems.  
  
Zack's spirits fell when Magda told him what he already knew.  
  
" _We've lost shields._ "  
  
Zack nodded. "Apley, you good?"  
  
"Yes sir," Apley answered. "Burns aren't that bad, I still have my fingers."  
  
"Keep the evasives up. This ship was built to take punishment..." The ship rocked violently again as another disruptor slammed into their armored hull, vaporizing chunks off. "...and we'll have to see how much she takes."  
  
Apley nodded. "Maintaining evasive pattern."  
  
"Good. As long as we're shooting at them, they can't risk dropping shields to beam...."  
  
"Sir, the third Reich ship is coming out of warp," Magda warned. "It's another _Z-2500_. They're en route to intercept us."  
  
Zack settled his head against his hand, ignoring another jostle from a glancing hit. _There's no way to win this. Dammit, Rob, where are you?!_ Zack fumed over that. Where were the others? Why hadn't they gotten here yet? Was there more sabotage? More problems?  
  
They never should have launched the mission. They should have _aborted_ , dammit, the moment those security problems were showing up. Why hadn't Robert done the smart thing!? Why had he gambled on their lives?!  
  
 _Damn you, Rob_ was the thought that came to him, not as unbidden as it might have otherwise been.  
  
"Maintain evasive maneuvers as well as you can," he said.  
  
"I'm trying." On the screen the newly-arrived Reich destroyer moved in. They had a clear shot if they didn't mind hitting the _Scharnhorst_. And he figured they wouldn't.  
  
That was it. He'd lost. There was nothing more he could do. Zack felt helpless, so utterly helpless...  
  
...just as he had when he saw his father was dead.  
  
 _Looks like I might join you, Dad. Hope wherever we are going has a bar for us to share that drink_.  
  
"Commander!"  
  
Magda's voice didn't immediately register with Zack so far into his thoughts, thinking about his father and all they hadn't done. It was only when she shouted his rank again that he looked over. "What?"  
  
"New contact!" She looked at him and smiled as widely as he'd ever seen her do so. "The _Aurora_ just warped in!"  
  
Zack had to force the breath out of his lungs at hearing that, just to resume breathing.  
  
  
  
  
Jarod had replaced Jupap at Ops. "The _Koenig_ has lost shields and taken heavy damage."  
  
"And it looks like we've got that battlecruiser's attention," Angel said from tactical. "They're locking weapons."  
  
"Put me on, Jarod." Robert checked the seat harness. "This is Captain Robert Dale of the Alliance _Starship Aurora_. If you hold your fire, we'll hold our's. We only want to get our ship out of your terri..."  
  
Thick beams of green energy lashed ou from the Nazi battlecruiser and hit _Aurora_ 's shields. "I think we have our answer," Julia noted drolly.  
  
"They fired first." Robert sighed. The entire mission had gone to hell. "Lock weapons on both ships and fire."  
  
The _Aurora_ 's forward weapons erupted in fire. Phaser fire and the thick blue pulses of the bow plasma cannons hammered at the Reich battlecruiser. A few shots were sent toward the enemy destroyer as well. Both ships turned to face them.  
  
"Tell Zack to get docked ASAP."  
  
"Sending the order."  
  
More disruptor bolts crashed into them, although some missed due to Locarno's maneuvering. As missiles closed the distance the smallest emplacements on the hull fired out at them, destroying some before they could hit the shields. "Shields now at ninety-one percent."  
  
"Status of their shields?", Robert asked Jarod.  
  
"Down to sixty-five, I think. The destroyer's shields are holding at eighty."  
  
Robert nodded. "Alright Zack, we've given you an opening, get over here so we can leave."  
  
  
  
  
There was no premature celebration on _Koenig_ 's bridge. They weren't out of danger yet and everyone present knew this. "Head to the _Aurora_ , full speed," Zack ordered. "Get ready for emergency combat docking."  
  
"Aye sir." Apley's hands moved over the control panel.  
  
 _Koenig_ broke away from the two ships. Suddenly the ship lurched underneath them. "The battlecruiser locked us in a tractor beam," Magda said.  
  
"Suggestions?"  
  
"Yeah. Shoot it."  
  
"I'm locking with the dorsal phaser array," Sherlily said. "Firing."  
  
  
  
  
On _Aurora_ the ship shook again as the full fury of the _Scharnhorst_ rained on them. "Shields down to seventy-eight percent," Jarod warned. "The battlecruiser's shields are now at fifty percent."  
  
"Keep it coming, Angel," Julia said.  
  
Angel focused on her board. The bow cannons blazed as quickly as the systems allowed, pummeling the enemy ship over and over with their thick sapphire bursts. Phaser fire and torpedoes struck out, some hitting the incoming missiles on their way to impacting on the batlecruiser. Locarno twisted the _Aurora_ and kept the bow pointed toward them, allowing Angel to get another shot from the main cannons. The bursts of sapphire energy slammed into the enemy shields again while missiles and disruptor fire made their ship shake. "Shields holding at seventy percent."  
  
"Laurent's ready for launch," Julia reminded Robert.  
  
He shook his head. "Then we'd have to take time recovering them. Hold off on that. Miss Al-Rashad, any sign of further contacts?"  
  
"Just one on long range sensors, at least half an hour away at current warp velocity."  
  
"We have some time, then," Julia mused.  
  
"Still not enough. Angel...?"  
  
"Throwing everything we have at it," she answered. "They're maneuvering, I think they're trying to keep us from hitting their tractor emitter."  
  
"Stay with them Nick."  
  
"Doing what I can," he answered.  
  
  
  
  
On _Koenig_ the ship was rattling as they strained against the enemy tractor beam. "Suggestions?", Zack said. "The phaser isn't doing it."  
  
"There's not much we can do without _Aurora_ 's help," Magda pointed out. "With the engine damage we can't pull out fo the tractor."  
  
"Okay, we can't. We improvise. Cat, tell me you have some sneaky technobabble?"  
  
"I' already tried everything we can do on _Koenig_ ," Caterina answered.  
  
"Anthing you could do on _Aurora_?"  
  
"Afraid not. This is brute forced-tech, its not going to be easily broken from technical tricks."  
  
"Come one, Cat, you're giving up on it?"  
  
"Of course not", she angrily countered. "But I can only do so much with the equipment we have on this ship. I mean, this ship wasn't meant for flexibility, she was built to shoot things. All she's really got is good combat sensors to see things with, weapons to shoot them with, and the tractor beam in case it wants to tow something.... around...."  
  
Caterina's expression shifted just as Zack's did, the two minds arriving at the same destination from different paths. " _The tractor beam,_ ", they said in unison.  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"Magda, lock the tractor beam on _their_ tractor beam," Zack ordered.  
  
"Wait, what? But that will..."  
  
"Ordinarily it wouldn't do much," Caterina agreed. "But I'm already altering the tractor emitter. Instead of a steady graviton stream, this will be a burst. It should go it like... like... something really dense smashing through something not as dense."  
  
"Works for me," Zack said.  
  
"That should do it... activate tractor beam now."  
  
Magda didn't wait for Zack to follow up with a direct order. She triggered it.  
  
The rear tractor emitter of the _Koenig_ sent out a burst of blue energy that intersected the ribbon of red light holding _Aurora_ in place. The enemy tractor beam failed and _Koenig_ , freed from her fight with it, shot forward like a rocket, aimed right at the _Aurora_.  
  
The ship shuddered violently under them. "They're targeting our impulsors," Magda warned. "Glancing hit on starboard impulsor housing. We're losing some power."  
  
"Evasive pattern, Apley, but get us to _Aurora_!"  
  
  
  
  
The _Koenig_ shot free after the Nazi battlecruiser's tractor beam failed. As they raced forward, the enemy destroyer loomed up behind them, pouring disruptor fire into their rear. "Clever, they modified their tractor beam," Jarod remarked.  
  
"Angel, get that destroyer off of them!"  
  
Angel nodded and directed the awesome forward firepower of her ship on the Nazi destroyer.  
  
The bolts of sapphire energy enveloped the small vessel. Its shields failed and flame erupted as the entire ship's bow came apart. It exploded in a fiery blaze when the barrage didn't cease.  
  
The battlecruiser started focusing fire on the _Koenig_ as well, now on their port side due to maneuvering. "Extend the shields," Julia ordered.  
  
"Doing so." The ship started to shake. "Shield effectiveness is going down, we're at just fifty-two percent now."  
  
Robert nodded. "Broadside fire, Angel."  
  
The phaser arrays and quad-cannon emitters on the port lashed out at the enemy ship, striking its shields and intercepting the Nazi missiles before they could hit _Koenig_. "They're on docking approach."  
  
"Open the doors, Jarod. All hands, brace for Emergency Combat Docking."  
  
  
  
  
Apley swung _Koenig_ up around the _Aurora_ 's nacelle, shifting the inertia of the ship through subspace to avoid overshooting on their course. Zack watched quietly and with a bit of trepidation, but only a bit. They'd trained for this maneuver several times.  
  
The tricky thing was that it still involved docking with a moving starship in combat conditions and getting right on target. The slightest mistake and the _Koenig_ would plow into other parts of the _Aurora_ , damaging both ships severely. A big enough impact could even destroy _Koenig_.  
  
For a moment, Zack regretted not forcing Apley to let him take the helm, given the burns on his hands. But it was too late; all he could do was show faith in his XO.  
  
Apley fired the impulsors up to an overtake speed, but not too high of one. He gradually reduced them and fired retro-thrusters as they came up to the opened dock door. He twisted the ship ever so slightly to fit the airlock extension and the support struts.  
  
Impact.  
  
The _Koenig_ shook hard as it slammed into place, but the landing struts and airlock held from the impact.  
  
"We're docked, sir," Apley informed them all, his voice even and level, not at all like he had just threaded a needle at thousands of kilometers per second. "Establishing airlock now."  
  
"Good landing, Ap," Zack sighed, feeling a surge of relief.  
  
It was over.  
  
They were safe.  
  
  
  
  
The impact of the _Koenig_ 's high speed landing jolted the bridge too. " _Koenig_ is docked," Jarod reported. "Closing dock doors."  
  
Robert nodded and felt the ship shake again as another antimatter missile hit their shields. "Locarno, get us out of here, maximum warp."  
  
"Getting us the hell out of here... now." Locarno finished laying the course in and triggered the warp drive.  
  
"Are they pursuing?", Julia asked.  
  
"Yes ma'am," Ensign al-Rashad said from Science. "They're at Warp 9.4. 9.5. 9.6."  
  
"We're now at Warp 9.7," Locarno said.  
  
"9.65. 9.67. 9.6.... wait. They're dropping out of warp. I'm picking up a shift in their drive signature. I think they overloaded it."  
  
"Always comforting to know we can always run away," Angel remarked.  
  
"Yeah. But we got what we came for." Robert pressed the intercom. "Bridge to Security. Meridina, Commander Kane, get your teams and sweep the _Koenig_. Let's make sure our friend isn't aboard her."  
  
" _I do not believe it is. But we will check_ ," Meridina answered.  
  
"ETA to Harris, Locarno?"  
  
"At current speed we should arrive in five hours."  
  
"Once we're over the border, reduce our speed to Warp 9. No point in straining the engines even more." Robert wiped at his forehead. "I'm not in any hurry to face Admiral Davies anyway."  
  
"I don't think any of us are," Julia agreed.  
  
  
  
  
 _Ship's Log: 15 May 2641; ASV Aurora. Captain Robert Dale recording. We have returned to Harris Station for repair work. The mission was a technical success with the destruction of the Darglan data facility, but the cost.... the cost was too high, not just in those killed by the Changeling and the Nazis but in the fact we got into a fight with them. We knew peace was unlikely, but our actions may have made it impossible._  
  
The command crew was sitting around the table in the conference room, including the officers from the _Koenig_. "Between our losses to the Changeling and the battle, we have twelve dead, fifteen wounded," Doctor Opani said from her seat near the end. The young Dorei woman, her skin a dark teal with light purple spots and dark purple hair, looked like she was going to choke. "I did all I could to stabilize some of the worst cases..."  
  
"We've got them stabilized," Leo finished for her, giving his fellow physician a sympathetic look. "All of the remaining critical cases have a good chance at recovery."  
  
"How long will it take to repair the _Koenig_?", Robert asked.  
  
Zack looked to Derbely. "Two weeks at normal cycle time, sir," she answered. "The dock is a drydock in miniature so that's not the issue, it's simply having to fix all of the damage."  
  
Julia nodded and looked down the table. "Scotty, do you think...?"  
  
"Aye." Scotty nodded and looked to the younger woman. "I'll assign ye some teams, Lieutenant. We'll have th' girl up an' about again in nae time."  
  
"Thank you, sir," Derbely answered. "I'll also need some replacements. I lost people, and I'm not sure Lieutenant Lopana will recover enough for ship duty."  
  
"We'll speak with fleet personnel. Until then I'll leave Scotty and Tom to see who can be spared for _Koenig_ ," Robert said. "Well, that handles that subject. What about the computers? How much data was compromised?"  
  
Jarod looked up. "We can rule out the IU jump drive technical data, the Changeling never compromised our computer security on it. At the very least, it could have sent out some of the data on naqia and non-critical ship information. And unsealed personnel data."  
  
Robert nodded. "Any more surprises?"  
  
"Security and Engineer personnel have been scouring the ship," Meridina said. "No further sabotage charges have been found, and the data we have so far hints that there were no others set. The greater issue is our computer security. The Changeling installed so many bypasses into our internal systems that computer security is completely compromised."  
  
"We'll have to do a complete restoration from off-site backups," Jarod explained. "Which means a lot of systems will need to be brought offline completely. We'll probably require a week in spacedock ourselves."  
  
"I'll forward the request," Robert said. "Caterina, that data... was it worth it?"  
  
"I don't know yet," she answered. The bags under her eyes showed Caterina hadn't slept at all the prior night. "I've been going over what we recovered, sorting technical data and astrographical... all I can tell you right now is that it has more universe designations and a great deal of astrographical data in this universe. I'm hoping it will tell us where the main Facility for S4W8 is."  
  
"I'm hoping it's not on Earth," Julia remarked, her hands together. "If the Nazis get any indication of how to search for these things..."  
  
"We'll worry about that when we confirm it," Robert said. "Is there anything else?" When there was no immediate answer, Robert stood. "Alright, we'll adj..."  
  
"I've got something."  
  
All eyes turned on Zack. He had been quiet during the entire meeting, only speaking when his ship was involved. Now he looked at Robert. Robert could see that his friend's eyes were smoldering and lined with a bit of red. "Zack?", Robert asked.  
  
"Why didn't you warn me, Rob?" Zack put his hand on the table. "Why didn't you tell me about this security leak before I left? If I'd known something was up, I would have been checking our systems, I would've seen the sabotage to our comm systems. Hell, I wouldn't have let that Changeling go one step without escort if you'd told me Draynal was a suspect!"  
  
Robert sighed. "I made a judgement call. We had nothing solid and the mission..."  
  
Zack's fist slammed on the table, startling everyone. "A _judgement call?!_ ", he shouted. "Seriously! You don't trust me with vital information because... what, you were afraid I'd abort? Were you so damned dedicating to pulling this mission off that you didn't care about what might go wrong?!"  
  
"That's not what it was, Zack," Robert replied, his voice going up too. "I just... I have my reasons, but I knew that mission had to be fulfilled! And I didn't have enough warning to see what was..."  
  
Zack leaned over and got in his face. " _Twelve of my crew are dead Rob!_ " He brought a finger up so close it almost pressed against Robert's cheek. " _Twelve!_ And I'm the one who has to write their families! I've got to tell a widower his only daughter got turned to vapor! Or maybe you'd like to tell Pammy DeSoto that her husband got flash-fried!"  
  
" _I had to make the call Zack!_ ," Robert shot back. "That's my _job!_ And that means people are going to die!"  
  
"Easy for you to say when you weren't the one who's ass was getting shot up by...!"  
  
" _ENOUGH!_ " Julia's shout echoed in the room as she jumped to her feet. She took both and pushed them away from each other with her arms, getting between them. "That's enough, from both of you!" She faced Zack. "I'm sorry, Zack. Rob thought it was the right call." She turned to face Robert. "But he should have told you."  
  
"It is my responsibility as much as Robert's," Meridina offered, standing as well. "You are right to be upset, Zachary. But please do not let your anger control you."  
  
Zack's jaw clenched as he continued to glare at Robert and be glared back in return. "I'm done here," he finally said, turning away. "Permission to be excused, _Captain_."  
  
Robert nodded stiffly. "Excused."  
  
Zack made a mocking salute and stormed off, joined by the _Koenig_ command crew. The _Aurora_ crew looked around until Robert waved them off as well. "Julia, go inform Harris Station we need spacedock time, please," Robert said. "I'll be in the ready room checking my final report."  
  
She nodded, sensing he needed time alone. Robert walked across the bridge and entered the ready room office. He remembered Farmer telling him about such offices almost two years before. "A place for the Captain to decompress when he's on duty." He felt like he needed it.  
  
Robert found his seat and drew in a breath when examining his report. He had taken full responsibility for what happened, for the decision to launch the operation regardless of the security risk, and for its disastrous result. It was the least he could do.  
  
With the touch of a button Robert sent the report off to Maran. He brought up another document. The casualty list, both the dead crew from _Aurora_ 's contingent to the mission and those _Koenig_ lost. The numbers were horrifying; Zack had lost over a quarter of his small crew. No wonder he was angry.  
  
At that point it just hit home. His bad judgement had cost sixteen lives, not counting the hundreds of crew on those destroyed Reich vessels. He'd ruined a clandestine operation, violated the space of another sovereign power, and fired on their ships in their own space.  
  
He'd almost gotten Zack, Cat, Tom, and Lucy _killed_.  
  
All because of a _nightmare_.   
  
How in the hell could he put that in a report?!  
  
The stress of the last week finally proved too much with this result. Robert broke down and actually began crying, feeling like he was being crushed.  
  
  
  
  
After her bridge watch Julia decided to check up on Zack. She went to his quarters, saw he was home, and hit the door chime. After several seconds it opened. She stepped in and saw him leaning over on his sofa seat. "How are you?"  
  
"I feel like crap," he said. "I sent off the condolence letters already, so you don't have to bug me about those." He looked up at her with the eyes of someone who had wrestled with his thoughts and was tired of it.  
  
"You... I wasn't coming to nag, Zack," Julia said. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."  
  
"Yeah. I know." Zack stood up. "I'm... I'm just tired of this." He walked up to her, his eyes red from tears and his expression full of apprehension and dread. "I've got to get this off my chest, no matter what happens."  
  
Julia tilted her head. "Zack, are you okay? What's wrong?"  
  
Zack put his hands on Julia's shoulders before she could stop him. "I've always felt this way, Julia Andreys," he said. "I... I _love you_ , Julia."  
  
Those words froze Julia just before she went to pull herself out of his grip.  
  
"I'll always love you...", Zack continued. "I don't think I can ever get over it. You're just... you're... I can't think of how to say it but to say..."  
  
They were so close that his breath actually felt warm on her face. A not-so-unfamiliar odor came across. "Zack... are you...."  
  
He let her go and stepped away. "There, I said it," he said, sighing with finality. As if he knew the answer. "Now, all I want to ask is... would you ever say the same to me?"  
  
Julia's words met her thoughts and jumbled up. "What?"  
  
"Julia, I only want honesty. Please, just honesty," Zack pleaded. "I can't move on without an honest answer. I just... I have to know! Could you ever love me? Could we ever have something together, something more?"  
  
Julia stared at him for a moment, trying to process what he was saying. She remembered how much of a crush Zack had on her in school, but she always figured that was just because she was one of the few girls he didn't have a chance with. But... love? "Zack, what are you saying?"  
  
"I'm saying, Julia, that I am deeply in love with you, that I have loved you for years and that it has become pure _torture_ for me to be this close to you without working up the guts to ask." Zack went over to his table and leaned on it. "And I'm just tired of it. I just want to know if there's any hope of you ever feeling that way about me. I want to be more than your friend."  
  
"Zack, you're kind of putting me on the spot here," Julia pointed out, feeling completely bewildered and off-balance. She'd come to give comfort, not find out... this.  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm just...." Zack had tears in his eyes. "On Adrana. That computer being gave me the world she thought I wanted. She gave me a world where we were married. Where we were together and happy."  
  
 _Oh God_. Julia felt... she didn't know how to feel. She felt sympathy and confusion and even some disgust.  
  
"It wasn't real. I... I realized it. But it made all of that come back. And then I talked to my Dad and to Clara and..." Zack sniffled. "I just can't stand not knowing any more. I just want to know. _Is there hope?_ Is there any chance, Julia, that you could feel love for me, that we could become a family?"  
  
"Stop pushing it, Zack," Julia retorted. "Do you expect me to just, in a few seconds, decide something like that?! We've never even dated before, we've..."  
  
"We've known each other since we were kids," Zack countered. "You know me and I know you. And I think you are the most smart, beautiful, and talented woman to ever exist. And I would move heaven and earth to...." He stopped, seeing the expression on her face. He shook his head. "You don't. You won't."  
  
"Zack..."  
  
"Don't." He held up a hand. "I've been around you long enough. You don't feel that way toward me."  
  
Julia swallowed and shook her head. "You're right. You're my friend but I just... that's all I see us as."  
  
"And there's no hope of that changing."  
  
"Well..." Julia shook her head and shrugged. "I don't know, I..."  
  
"Don't you dare," he hissed. "Don't you Goddamn dare do that to me, Julie. Don't you string it out!"  
  
"What is it you want from me, Zack?!," Julia screamed, her patience at an end. "You're a good friend, and you're funny and sweet and kind, but no, I don't see you as a lover or a future husband or anything. I love you to death as a friend, but that's all we'll be. And I'm not sure if that would ever change or not. I don't know the damn future! Now, I don't know what's gotten into you, but I do know this won't solve anything!"  
  
And with that, she lifted the opened tequila bottle from the table by the sofa.  
  
Zack stared at her and at the bottle, its amber liquid within jostling slightly from her movement. The bottle was missing over a quarter of its contents  
  
"You're _drinking this stuff_ , Zack!" Julia put the bottle back down. "Is it really me driving you to this? Why... you rarely like beer, now you're drinking like your Dad!"  
  
"Yeah." Zack held up a shot glass that was on the desk, a bit of tequila left in it. In one move he sent it down his throat. "Yeah, I am. Trying to see if Dad was right. If it'd make the pain go away."  
  
"Zack...."  
  
"I'd hoped you'd think about it," he confided. "But I can't beat him, can I?"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Rob." He slammed the glass on the desk so hard that Julia thought it would break. "He gets you, he gets Angel... he gets to be the Captain too. Robert Dale, _the big hero!_ " He postured wildly, striking a melodramatic pose. "And Julia, the true love who swoons over him and never ever lets him know it."  
  
Julia's face paled. It was the kind of pale that would make a smarter man, or in this case more sober man, stop.  
  
"And there's me, Zachary Carrey. The also-ran. The second-best. The hanger-on." Each term seemed to drip more and more venom. "He gets it all and here I am, in his shadow." He walked by her and picked up the bottle. "He can even send me to get killed and the only thing I can do about it is be his loyal dog or run away. Run away run away run away.... maybe I should. Maybe I should give all of this crap up and go back home."  
  
"Zack, you don't mean that! Rob's your best friend, I'm your best friend! We're all here for you."  
  
"Yeah. All for one and all for one, eh?" He held up the glass and seemed to reconsider that. "Huh. Got that wrong. Must be working. Maybe a few more shots and the pain will go away."  
  
At that moment Julia felt a tear on her own eye. "Zack, we should have breakfast tomorrow. All of us. We should all get together and help you through this."  
  
"Yeah. God knows I need it." Zack poured another shot. "I'm a true Carrey, and you know how hopeless we are if we don't have someone watching over us, making sure we don't screw it up, right? Otherwise we'll go back to the bottle. Cheers."  
  
He brought the shotglass up. Julia shrieked and lashed out, smacking his hand and sending the shotglass and its contents flying into the near wall, where the tequila splattered and the glass shattered. She felt words come to her tongue, but couldn't quite get them out. She looked into Zack's sad brown eyes and the red lines around them and... Julia realized she didn't know what to do. How could she fix this? How could she make it better? When it was clear that every moment she was here, she was twisting the knife in his heart.  
  
His words had struck home too. Julia hadn't realized how much it _hurt_ that Robert was with Angela again while she was still alone.  
  
 _Maybe I should be getting plastered with him_ , was the dour thought that crossed her mind.  
  
"I'll... I'll leave you alone," she finally said, trying to fight the tears. "But Zack, please... we're here for you. I know this is something you need to do for yourself, but if you need us we're here."  
  
"Yeah, like always."  
  
And she couldn't take it anymore. The tears were rolling down Julia's face as she stormed out of the room.  
  
Zack watched her leave and the door close. Through the haze in his head his heart was still hurting, aching. He'd confirmed it was as bad as he thought. There was no hope. The woman he loved did not love him and would never love him. "Guess it's time to move on," he muttered, holding the bottle of tequila in his hand. "Hey Dad, havin' that drink." He brought the bottle up like he was toasting. "Let's see if you were right."  
  
At that point, he didn't bother getting another shotglass to replace the broken one. He put the opening of the bottle to his lips and took as big a drink as he could manage.


	6. Chapter 6

  
**Tag**

 

Meridina had returned to Security and found a message marked urgent. Seeing it was Lucy, Meridina went straight to her quarters. As an assistant department head Lucy had her own quarters on Deck 4, not as large as a department head but sufficiently comfortable. Meridina entered and found it dark. Lucy was sitting on her bed in a nightgown, her knees curled up to her chin. She looked over at Meridina and showed that she had been unable to sleep and was under tremendous emotional stress. "Lucy, what is wrong?"

"What... what's happening to me?", Lucy said, tears in her eyes. "Because it's not making sense. I've got this thing in me now and it saved us but then it got cold and terrible and I ... I..."

Meridina's expression froze. She swallowed and walked up to Lucy, sitting beside her on the bed. She pressed a hand to Lucy's arm and felt the turmoil roiling with her. No, not just the turmoil.

She felt Lucy's _swevyra_. Where it had once been a small ember, it was a fire now. She had called upon it intentionally, repeatedly, and it had come. But now it wouldn't go away either.

"Can you make it stop?", Lucy asked. "It's..."

"I cannot," Meridina answered. "You have opened yourself to your _swevyra_ , Lucy. It cannot be undone."

"But it _scares_ me," she said, her voice hoarse. "At first it was... it was just useful, it saved our lives, let me fight the Changeling. But then it was trying to pull me back into the facility and I couldn't break free and I just... I was afraid and then angry and I just started to _hate_ it and I wanted to rip it apart and then everything turned cold."

Meridina swallowed and clasped another hand to Lucy's shoulder. "Yes. You're not trained to deal with your emotions when wielding your _swevyra_. It brought forth the darkness within you."

"Tom said my eyes were turning yellow and that my hand was shooting out lightning!"

"Yes. That is what happens when _swevyra_ is joined with darkness." Meridina found her own mind racing. She _had_ to tell Ledosh about this, she had to share this with the whole Order. "I... I may have done you a disservice for introducing this power to you, and for that I am sorry. This is dangerous. You _must_ learn to control your emotions when wielding your _swevyra_."

"Can you show me how? Please? Show me how to do this!"

"I..." Meridina lowered her eyes. "I must consult my superiors on Gersal. But you must promise me, do not use your _swevyra_ again, not until I say! This is important, Lucy."

Lucy nodded. "I'll... I'll try..."

" _No_ ," Meridina growled, frowning. For Lucy the sight of her frown and the growl in her voice was terrifying, so completely unlike Meridina as it was. "Lucy, you do not _try_. You just _do it_. You must!"

"But if I can't...?"

"Then..." Meridina shook her head. "If you use it without training and let your darkness take over... it corrupts your _swevyra_ , your very essence. Few have ever come back from corruption. They... they become murderers and monsters, they lose control and lash out at everything."

"That would... happen to me?", Lucy murmured, still terrified.

"It could. But it would not."

"Why not?"

"Because..." Meridina's face lost all emotion. "....I would kill you first."

 

 

 

It was the middle of the night when the chime went off in Robert's quarters. He shifted in bed, prompting Angel to slide off him in her sleep, and reached over for the comm button on the nightstand. "Dale here," he said, his vision still blurry from being tired.

" _Admiral Maran is on comms for you, sir._ "

Sighing, Robert pulled his uniform jacket on as he went to his personal computer in his quarters and triggered the comm system. Maran appeared, dawn light behind him. "Admiral?", Robert asked.

" _Captain Dale, I'm changing your orders. You will report to Fleet Command Spacedock immediately._ "

Robert blinked. "Sir? is there something going on?"

Maran nodded. " _You're being called before the Defense Committee, Captain Dale. You and your entire command staff._ "

That made Robert swallow. "This is about the mission, right?"

" _It is_ ," Maran answered. " _I'm doing everything I can to help, but..._ "

"But what?"

Maran lowered his eyes. " _You're facing a lot of criticism here in Portland, Robert. If the Defense Committee finds against you, the President and I won't have any choice. You and your crew will be removed from the_ Aurora _. Permanently._ "

 


End file.
